Leadership - The Last Place on Earth

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D I S C O V E R , S H A R E , T R A N S F O R M

APRIL 2006VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1

Lessons in Leadership FromThe Last Place on Earth.

The Risk of not Risking:Moving from Dependenceto Opportunity in Energy-related Opportunities

I N T H I S I S S U E :



T H E W O R K P L A C E R E V I E W A P R I L 2 0 0 6 V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 1

MissionThe mission of The Workplace Review is to become a regional

forum where people can explore different perspectives of work.

The Workplace Review will emphasize research that is current

and relevant, with a high potential for immediate application

and impact.

Better WorkplacesBetter Workplaces is a research initiative of the Sobey School

of Business. It is a key focus in our ongoing effort to produce

research that has a meaningful impact on the way we do

business. The Better Workplaces research agenda is aimed atdeveloping insights into the balance of factors that encourage

positive organizational outcomes, including improved organiza-

tional performance and customer care, employee health and

safety, good community-workplace relations, and ethical

business practices.

One of the initiatives under the Better Workplaces umbrella is

the introduction of this new electronic journal – The Workplace

Review.

Scope of the eJournalThe Workplace Review showcases the strength of international

faculty who are in touch with day-to-day workplace challenges.

Drawing upon our diverse community of researchers, from the

Sobey School of Business and other Atlantic Canadian universities,

the journal will reflect developing issues in the functional

specialties of marketing, finance, operations, information systems,

economics, accounting, and management. It will address issues

such as personnel staffing and selection, human resource

management, leadership and coaching, occupational health,

industrial relations, spirituality, diversity management, corporate

governance and business ethics. The journal will remain flexible

enough to incorporate future or emerging issues. All articles will

focus on the central theme of the challenges and opportunities

surrounding work, working and the workplace, but will not

necessarily reflect the views of Saint Mary’s University and the

Sobey School of Business.

sobey.smu.ca/workplacereview


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April 2006 contents

14

22


0 3 L E T T ER F R O M T H E E D I T O R

The Risk of not Risking:

Moving from Dependenceto Opportunity inEnergy-related Opportunities

Lessons in Leadershipfrom The Last Place on Earth

1 6 R E V I E W I N G W H AT ’ S H O T; W H AT ’ S N O T

R E V I E W O F Y V O N C HO UI NAR D’ S :

L E T M Y P E O P L E G O S U R F I N G : T H E

ED U C A T I O N O F A R EL U C TA N T B U S I N ESSM A N

C O M M EN TA R Y

Females Still Face Barriers:

A Commentary on the TrainingGap in Canada

04


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April 2006 contents

43

37

34 Cascading the Value

Proposition through theOrganization to the Individual

Using Online CompetitiveIntelligence to Help Identify

Organizational Risk

inSightsDI S C US S I O N W I T H T HE

S O B E Y S C HO O L O F B US I NE S S DE AN

If you have something you want to say,research or information you want to share, or comments or reactions to articles you’ve read in this

issue, please write to us at the [email protected].


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Letter from the Editor BY A LBE RT J . M I LLS

Welcome to the new look Workplace Review. Our new Managing Editor is Tony Yue, who has

taken over from Wendy Carroll. Our very best regards go with Wendy who steered the Review

through 2005. Wendy leaves us to take up a teaching position with Acadia University.

Another important change is the expansion of the editorial board to include business educators

from across Atlantic Canada. The composition of the new board will be reflected in future

editions, particularly in the range of contributors. While the overall direction and philosophy of

the Workplace Review remains the same, we will be better placed to reflect best business

practices and research across the region.

As part of the new look, we have moved away from specialized departments and columns to key

articles focused around a themed issue, starting with the current issue focused on risk.

The issue leads off with a review of Yvon Chouinard’s book Let My People Go Surfing: The

Education of a Reluctant Businessman. Here Brad Long introduces us to Chouinard’s approach to

risk management through purposively limited and controlled growth. In the first of our feature

articles Conor Vibert not only explains the value of internet surfing for competitive intelligence

but provides several useful tips for managing organizational risk on line. From mining the internet

to mining history, Peter Chiaramonte and Tony Yue explore the lessons of Roald Amundsen’ssuccessful trek to the South Pole for modern management. In the second of our feature articles

Chiaramonte and Yue argue that there is much to be learned from leadership under conditions of

great risk, particularly the need to pay attention to strategic detail, context, and the human factor.

Risk may reside as much in what we don’t do as much as what we actually do. In our fourth article

Gordon Cooke and Isik Zeytinoglu contend that a gendered training gap in Canada may be hurting

not only the women who are excluded from equitable training access but also the companies who

miss out on the development of a qualified pool available to move into higher-level jobs. Moving

on to the value proposition, Sunny Marche provides useful tips for ensuring that each and every

department and division in an organization develops a sense of their contribution to the overall

difference between what people pay (i.e., the value) for goods and services and what those goods

and services cost to provide. Finally, rounding off our current theme, Harvey Silverstein examines

the energy sector to provide key insights into the risks involved in NOT taking risks.

We hope you like the changes we have made and, one way or another, we’d like to hear from

you. We will endeavor to publish all relevant letters to the editor. Look out for our Fall edition

when we will be dealing with the theme of sustainability.



The Risk ofnot RiskingMoving from Dependence

to Opportunity inEnergy-relatedOpportunities

04 THE WORKPLACE REVIEW April 20

BY HARV E Y S I L V E RS T E I N

T H E R I S K O F N O T R I S K I N G


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Risk can be defined in many ways. For some unknown

reason, I have always attached a high perception of

risk to missing out on real opportunities.I have even heard that “luck” can be defined as merely the readiness to make use of an

opportunity. Therefore since I have had the wonderful fortune to be lucky in life, love,

and business, I attribute this to my willingness to take the risk on an opportunity before

everyone else accepts it as proven, acceptable, or even completely safe.

What does this have to do with business and more directly with this issue of the

Workplace Review? I intend to set forward in this brief article the thesis that there is an

enormous area of developing business opportunity in the energy sector; here-to-fore

ignored in Atlantic Canada (with one significant exception) and that we ignore at ourperil. The peril I foresee is that we can wait until the opportunities are proven, miss the

boat on establishing foundations in this emerging area, lose out on employment and new

businesses, and end up dependent upon other companies in other places.

This will create even further workplace risk. After a recent presentation by Professor Linda

Duxbury on generational differences in the Workplace, what became clear is that unless

we provide exciting new challenges – frontiers – in the workplace, we will have an even

tougher time to recruit bright people as the number of available workers shrinks dramatically.

My initial observation is historical and based upon the recent past. 1981-82 was the early

days in the development and roll-out of the microcomputers that became the foundation

of the Information Technology Industry and now what has been called the Internet

Economy. Two other Haligonians and I started a company called Hypertechonologies

Canada Inc. based upon obtaining the exclusive Canadian license for the first hard drive

for the Macintosh Computer.

I remember well going to the local business community, the banks, and especially the gov-

ernment trying to convince them of the incredible opportunities that would come from

deployment of this technology. Skepticism was great, risk aversion was most prominent,

and Hypertechnologies Canada Limited wound up moving to Toronto where it was quite

successful. The point here is not that my former company moved to greener pastures –

but rather that many other companies did not stay or get started here because of the risk

calculation perceived within our local business community.

I would suggest that the Maritime successes we now celebrate in the Information

Technology Industry exist in spite of – not because of – our intolerance of “unproven”

opportunities.

This brings me to the subject of energy. “Energy”, in the current vein, is usually perceived

of as an amalgam of offshore oil and gas, coal legacies, developing wind power resources,




and the rate controversies and services of Nova Scotia Power. Our collective consciousness is

almost totally focused on energy in terms of energy resources.

Perception of an Energy System

What I would like to propose is that we need to change our perception (or paradigm – to

use the proper academic terminology) to one of energy as a complete system. Several years

ago, in a study for Nova Scotia Power [1], I came across one of the best representations of an

energy system model from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) based in Portland,

Oregon.

The BPA is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Energy that operates extensive

generating facilities in the Western U.S. Their system model incorporates both existing and

potential changes in the way energy and energy related information flows. It is not only a

pictorial illustration of energy, and energy related communications flows, but each element

in the model is hyperlinked to more extensive sources of information and resources about

that particular element. While this model focuses primarily on the market and electrically

related system, it is an excellent representative of the systems approach to managing energy.

I have reproduced this model below [2].

DEFINITION OF ENERGY WEB: The integration of the utility electrical system, telecommu-

nications system, and the energy market to optimize loads on the electrical network, reduce

costs to consumers and utilities, facilitate the integration of renewable resources, increase

electrical system reliability and reduce environmental impacts of load growth.

There are many implications to this model. To me, one of the most important is that intellec-

tual capital of how to integrate and apply energy systems – and not just natural resources

will become of considerable value in our 21 st century. By intellectual capital, I include not

only devices, patents, technologies, processes, and research and development but also the


E NE RGY WE B :

A NE W K I ND O F

NE T WO RK




1

2

3

THE WORKPLACE REVIEW April 2006 07

knowledge of how to integrate and utilize these in the most cost-effective manner. I do not

believe that energy-related intellectual capital is even on the radar screen for most of

Atlantic Canada.

Before continuing, I must set out two further assumptions that are obvious to a significant

portion of the population but definitely not agreed to by everyone. These assumptions are:

Consumption of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, oil shale, and coal) is accelerating, and there

is only a finite supply. (Depending upon a variety of assumptions our useable supply may

range from 30 to several hundred years).

The green house effect is “real” and this as well as other major environmental concerns will

have increasingly important economic and political, and social impacts on our choices for

energy systems.

The Hydrogen Economy Conceptand AssumptionsIn addition to these assumptions – I would like to propose one more that I do not want to

take the time and effort to argue in this article [3]. That additional assumption is that:

Hydrogen and hydrogen based technologies will come to play major role in the

development, transmission, applications, and use of energy in our lives stating within the

next 5-10 years and continuing well into our foreseeable future.

I do not intend to argue this assumption because there are national and international asso-

ciations, innumerable international conferences, countries (such as Iceland, Japan, China,

and even the U.S.), the European Union, billions of dollars and hundreds if not thousands of

companies already accepting this assumption.

In very simple terms, hydrogen systems (or the “hydrogen economy”) concept is based upon

the following principles with major long-term implications:

Hydrogen can be produced anywhere there is electricity and water using electrolysis.

(Basically, running a low voltage current through water under certain conditions. This breaks

the H20 water molecule down into free oxygen and hydrogen). Canada has been a world

leader in this technology since the late 1940’s when the Stuart Energy Ltd. installed large

electrolytic converters at Niagara Falls. The Stuart Energy corporation has now been mergedinto the Hydrogenics Corporation and is still a Canadian company.

These electrolyzers can be added to solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal, and ocean energy gen-

erators in order to capture all the electricity generated and store it as a transportable fuel.

When hydrogen is burned or used in a fuel cell – the only significant environmental

by-product is water. There is no Carbon dioxide produced. (Under certain specific conditions,

when hydrogen is burned under high temperature some nitrous oxides can be produced but

the technology of how to minimize or eliminate this already exists).




Hydrogen can also be used to extend the supply of natural gas up to a mixture of about

20% with no change in piping, valves, storage technology, etc.

My intent now is to illustrate the scale and extent of this activity in the hopes of stimulating

interest in this sector from both the public and private sector enterprises in this region of

Canada. Opportunities can emerge if we now begin building some “intellectual capital” –knowledge – in the applications and implications of hydrogen energy based systems.

Ongoing Government Priorities inHydrogen SystemsMany people are aware of and have heard about how Iceland has adopted as a national

goal to become one of the first hydrogen powered nations in the world using geothermal

and hydroelectric sources to produce hydrogen to fuel their country. The objective is to

replace costly foreign petroleum with clean burning and locally produced hydrogen to run

vehicles and even their fishing boats. What many people don’t know is that the provincial

government of Manitoba has already signed a memorandum of agreement with Iceland to

share this knowledge and technology development:

”Manitoba and Iceland share many cultural and business ties as well as a common

interest in renewable energy and hydrogen,” said Sale. “Iceland has taken a leadership

role and gained considerable profile globally in the area of hydrogen development.

Today’s agreement will promote greater partnerships in this area between our two

jurisdictions and will enable Manitoba to build on our recently unveiled initiatives

including a preliminary report on hydrogen development and a unique hybrid fuel cell

bus demonstration project.”

The MOU states that Manitoba and Iceland will pursue the potential for joint initiatives

on hydrogen development. The two jurisdictions will also investigate the benefits of

the exchange of people and information, and joint research and training initiatives,

in relation to hydrogen development activities. The agreement could lead to an

important mutual bridge between North American and European markets” [3a]

The European Union, Japan and the United States have made both strategic and financial

commitments to the concept of the Hydrogen Economy with President Bush committing

$1 billion dollars in federal incentives to the furtherance of this technology. Twenty percent

of the most recent proposed 2007 U.S. Department of Energy Budget – $195.8 million – is

being directed at hydrogen technologies [4].

What is even more interesting is how those developing nations – particularly those with

both exploding development and population – India and China are looking at hydrogen

technologies. In a recent meeting in London, England – the Indian Minister of Non-conven-

tional Energy Resources declared:

“We have been slow to respond to face the challenge of our energy requirements, but we

are fast catching up and if powerful nations like America, China, Japan, Canada and


‘‘ ‘ ‘

‘‘




‘ ‘

‘‘

‘‘

‘ ‘

‘ ‘


Germany have a roadmap for Hydrogen energy, so have we. By the year 2020, we will

have one million vehicles on our roads running with Hydrogen fuel,” he told a BBC Hindi

programme.

“We have huge resources of renewable energy in the country. To begin with we have a

potential of five trillion Mega Watts (MW) of solar energy, seventy thousand MW of

wind energy and more than 2,000,000 MW of Hydrogen energy. We are now tapping

this potential to meet our requirements.” [5]

China is moving in a similar direction. In a recent report – China indicated that not only will

it be using hydrogen powered buses to transport visitors to the 2008 Olympics – but will

shortly thereafter begin commercial production of hydrogen powered buses.

“Probably the greatest stunner at the May 25-28 (2004) meeting was an announcement that

a year after the Olympics, in 2009, China plans to start series production of fuel cell buses.”

Shen Xiang, director of the Beijing Science & Technology Community, in a detailed presenta-

tion on the “Clean Energy Concept for the Olympic Games 2008,” outlined the “batch

production” of transit, touring and mid-sized buses for the Olympics, both battery driven

and fuel cell versions, the creation of a special trial and demonstration bus line in Beijing

prior to the games, construction of infrastructure systems, and a host of other facilities.

Many of these facilities will be clustered in a “Hydrogen Transportation Park,” a little less

than 10 miles from the Olympics Park, to be operated by the New Energy Vehicle

Engineering Center of Tsinghua University, an institution regarded as the MIT of China.

In addition to hydrogen refueling facilities, the park will feature solar and wind power

generators, garages for hydrogen vehicles, a steam reformer for natural gas and an

impressively modern looking Hydrogen Education Center” . . . [6]

The Case of Canada – and the Other Non-Atlantic ProvincesCanada is no slouch when it comes to the development, testing, and commercialization of

these technologies. Many Canadians are already familiar with Ballard and their mixed record

of success. Until now they have been in the “capital burn” phase of new product development.

“Now, it needs to push harder to produce and promote the technology that has been

championed as a leading challenge to environmentally unfriendly gas-guzzling cars andsmoke-belching power plants.

So far, fuel cells and other new power sources have failed to crack fossil fuels’ stranglehold

on the marketplace, disappointing investors and environmentalists alike. “Ballard, like a lot

of technology companies, has had a reputation in the past of under-delivering, relative

to expectations – we’re changing that,” John Sheridan (new CEO) said. “At times in the

past we also tried to push technology without enough focus on the customer – we’re

changing that.”




$ m i l l i o n s

2002 2003

120

90

60

30

0

P r o d u c t

S a l e s

R & D

C o n t r a c t s

I P L i c e n s i n g

0 t h e r

$

m i l l i o n s

200

150

100

50

0

2 0 0 2

2 0 0 3

To make fuel cells a commercial reality the company will need “tenacious execution and

being obsessed with delivery, doing what we say we’re going to do,” the former Bell Canada

president added.

AMONG BALLARD’S TARGETS FOR 2006:

Revenues of between $55 and $65 million.

Operating cash consumption between $50 million and $65 million.

Ship or book 280 Mark 1030 fuel cells.

Deliver prototype of next-generation fuel cells for field demonstration.

Ship or book 300 Mark9 SSL fuel cells.

Achieve a 195-second starting time at -30 C for its auto fuel cell.

Deliver a next-generation automotive fuel cell prototype. [7]

Ballard, however, is only the most visible proponent of what is now an almost $200 million

dollar industry that is growing at a rate of more than 20% per year. Industry Canada

completed a survey to which 98 Canadian firms replied in 2004. The profile of the Hydrogen

industry now across Canada reveals:

Revenue has grown 40 percent from $134 million in 2002 to $188

million in 2003.

R&D expenditures have increased 5 percent from $276 million in

2002 to $290 million in 2003.

Employment stands at 2,685, a modest decrease from 2002 levels.

Participation in demonstration projects has increased by 232 percent

to 262 in 2003 from 79 in 2002.

Patent holdings are up by 34 percent to 581 in 2003. [8][9]

Globally, Canada is seen very much as a player in this space. However, there do not appearto be any government or private entities now involved from Atlantic Canada in any of these

developments.

On the following page. I have included a table of those companies and organizations

invited to participate in this survey of Canadian companies with an active interest, services,

or products supporting hydrogen related products and services.


WesternCanada49.5%

Regional Splitnot reported1.9%

Germany15.2%

EasternCanada1.9%%

Other 4.6%

Japan 10.6%

US 15.9%

Revenue by Region

Revenue by Type

Total Revenue

+ 40%

+ 5%± 0%

+ 232%

+ 34%




Advanced MeasurementSystems Inc.

Agile Systems Inc.

Air Liquide Canada

Alberta Research Council

Analytic Systems

Angstrom Power Inc.

Armstrong MonitoringCorporation

Astris Energi Inc.

Azure Dynamics Corp.

Ballard Power Systems Inc.

BC Hydro

Bell Canada

BET Services Inc.

BOC Gases

Business DevelopmentBank of Canada

Canadian HydrogenAssociation

Cellex Power Products Inc.

Centre for AutomotiveMaterials & Manufacturing

Centre for Manufacturingof Advanced Ceramics andNanomaterials

Chevron TexacoTechnology Ventures

Chrysalix Energy LimitedPartnership

Cimtex Industries Ltd.

Clean Energy Canada

Dana Canada Corporation

Deere & Co.

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Delta-Q TechnologiesCorp.

Dupont Canada Inc.

Dynetek Industries Ltd.

Enbridge Gas

Energy VenturesOrganization

Energy Visions Inc.

Energy3 and EnergyQBD

ESTCO BatteryManagement Inc.

Fuel Cell Technologies Ltd.

Fuel Cells & ReformersCanada, Ltd.

Fuel Cells Canada

Fueling Technologies Inc.

FuelMaker Corporation

General HydrogenCorporation

Global HydrofuelTechnologies

Global Thermoelectric Inc.

Gowling LafleurHenderson

Greater VancouverRegional District

Greenlight PowerTechnologies Inc.

GrowthWorks Ltd.

H2 Concepts AlternativeFuels Consulting

Heffelfinger & Associates

Heliocentris EnergySystems Inc., NorthAmerica

HERA Hydrogen StorageSystems Inc.

Fuel Cells Canada

Fueling Technologies Inc.

FuelMaker Corporation

General HydrogenCorporation

Global HydrofuelTechnologies

Global Thermoelectric Inc.

Gowling LafleurHenderson

Greater VancouverRegional District

Greenlight PowerTechnologies Inc.

GrowthWorks Ltd.

H2 Concepts AlternativeFuels Consulting

Heffelfinger & Associates

Heliocentris EnergySystems Inc., NorthAmerica

HERA Hydrogen StorageSystems Inc.

HSBC Bank Canada

Hydrogen ResearchInstitute

Hydrogen TechnologiesCorp.

Hydrogenics Corporation

IMW Industries Ltd.

Inco Special Products

Industry Canada, Energyand Marine Branch

INRS (Institut National dela Recherche Scientifique)

James Hoggan andAssociates Inc.

Keen Engineering

Kinectrics Inc.

KPMG LLP

Kraus Global Inc.

Laval University

MagPower Systems Inc.

Marsh Canada Limited

McCarthy Tétrault LLP

McGill University

Membrane ReactorTechnologies Ltd.

Methanex Corporation

MH2 CANADA INC.

National Bank Financial

National Research CouncilCanada

Natural Resources Canada

Neodym Technologies

Neutron Technologies Inc.

NORAM Engineering andConstructors Ltd.

Ontario Power Generation

Palcan Fuel Cell Co. Ltd.

Pathway Design &Manufacturing Inc.

PEM Engineers Inc.

PEM Technologies Inc.

PowerDisc DevelopmentCorporation Ltd.

PowerNova TechnologiesCorporation

Praxair, Inc.

PrecisionH2 Inc.

PricewaterhouseCoopersLLP

Province of Ontario

QuestAir Technologies Inc.

Royal Military College

Sacré-Davey Engineering

SatCon Power SystemsCanada Ltd.

Simon Fraser University

SMC Pneumatics (Canada)Ltd.

Staubli Corporation

Stuart Energy SystemsCorporation

TD Securities Inc.

Tekion Solutions Inc.

Teleflex Canada

Tyco Electronics CanadaLtd.

Universal DynamicsLimited

University College of theFraser Valley

University of Alberta

University of BritishColumbia

University of Calgary,Western Canada Fuel CellInitiative

University of Victoria,

Institute for IntegratedEnergy Systems

University of Windsor

Ventures WestManagement Inc.

Westport Innovations Inc.

Xantrex Technology Inc.

Yaletown Venture Partners

Zetacon Corporation




The Maritime OpportunityThere is, however, one emerging player in all of Atlantic Canada that I am aware of who has

recognized and is seizing the opportunity to develop some expertise and, hopefully some

products and services tied to the concept of the Hydrogen Economy. That player is theGovernment of Prince Edward Island – led specifically by Premier Binns who has secured a

major contribution from Industry Canada as part of a $16 million dollar project to create a

Wind-Hydrogen Village.


Industry Canada

Natural Resources Canada

Maritime Electric

Frontier Power Systems

Atlantic OrientCorporation

University of UPEI

Holland College

University of NewBrunswick

Saint Mary’s University

Vestas Canada

Dynatek Corporation

Saskatchewan Research

Council

The concept underlying this project is simple, elegant, and powerful. The Wind-Hydrogen

Village will be a demonstration project taking wind-power from PEI’s current wind-farm in

North Cape, converting it to hydrogen fuel, and then using this fuel to power farm machin-

ery, homes and businesses, buses, and even a fishing and tourist boat.

Hydrogen technologies now already involve a wide range of applications from large power

sources for buildings and industry, vehicles from motor scooters to hybrid buses to sub-

marines, and to micro power sources for cell phones and laptop computers.

The PEI-Wind-Hydrogen project is unique because of its relevance to smaller and rural and

coastal communities. Many of the hydrogen developments around the world are aimed at

large and developed marketplaces. The entrepreneurial opportunity for Atlantic Canadians

may lie in developing knowledge, expertise, and systems for smaller communities and

especially for those in developing countries.

The risk for Atlantic Canadians in notbecoming aware and not getting involved atthis point is that we will be missing thisincoming and long lasting wave of businessopportunities.

The Project is a joint

Venture between

Hydrogenics and the

PEI Energy Corporation

with a broad range of

partners including:




6. Asia Pulse Pte Ltd, published in Fuel Cell Today News,

“India to Have 1 Mln Hydrogen Powered Vehicles by

2020”, 13 February 2006(http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/FuelCellToday/Industry

Information/IndustryInformationExternal/NewsDisplay

Article/0,1602,7238,00.html)

7. “China Report: HYFORUM Opens Window on China’s

Hydrogen/Fuel Cell Ambitions, Potential”, Hydrogen &

Fuel Cell Letter, June 2004, p.1-2.

8. Canoe – Autonet.ca – March 1, 2006

http://www.autonet.ca/Environment/story.cfm?story=/Env

ironment/2006/02/23/1458973-cp.html

“Ballard sees fuel cell turnaround”, posted February

23, 2006

9. Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Sector Profile 2004,

Information Distribution Centre, Communications andMarketing Branch, Industry Canada, Room 268D, West

Tower, 235 Queen Street, Ottawa ON K1A 0H5, Cat. No.

lU 44-13/2004E-PDF, ISBN 0-662-37228-X54157E

(c)2004, p. 2-6.

ProfileDr. Harvey Silverstein is Executive Director of the

EMBA Program at the Sobey School of Business.

His specialty is in the impacts and implications of

technology and its effect on people and organiza-

tions. He has been an entrepreneur – starting four

companies, a corporate executive as former partner

of both KPMG and Ernst & Young, and a professor of

Science, Technology, and International Affairs.

RE F E RE NCE S

1. “A Comparison of Distributed Generation Activities by

Other North American Power Companies”, Nova Scotia

Power, 2001. Confidential Report.

2. Bonneville Power Administration Website:

http://www.bpa.gov/energy/n/tech/energyweb/

3. For the origination of the hydrogen economy concept –

see Derek Gregory, “The Hydrogen Economy” in

The Scientific American, CCXXVIII (January 1973). I

did provide what I believe to be cogent arguments

supporting this concept 25 years ago in “Canadian

Energy and the Hydrogen Economy - A Policy for a

Nation”, The International Journal , Canadian Institute

of International Affairs, Vol. XXXVI, No.2, Spring 1981

and later reprinted in International Journal of Hydrogen

Energy, Vol. 7, No. 8, 1982.

3a.(News Release, Legislative Media Services, Manitoba

Government, September 23, 2003)

4. For the origination of the hydrogen economy concept –

see Derek Gregory, “The Hydrogen Economy” in The

Scientific American, CCXXVIII (January 1973). I did

provide what I believe to be cogent arguments

supporting this concept 25 years ago in “Canadian

Energy and the Hydrogen Economy – A Policy for a

Nation”, The International Journal, Canadian Institute

of International Affairs, Vol. XXXVI, No.2, Spring 1981

and later reprinted in International Journal of Hydrogen

Energy, Vol. 7, No. 8, 1982.

5. “DoE News: DoE Requests $195.8 million for Hydrogen

Technologies, up 20%, in New ‘07 Budget”,

Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Letter, March 2006, Vol XXI,

No. 3, website: www.hfcletter.com

THE WORKPLACE REVIEW October 2005 13



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Lessons inLeadership from The Last

Place on Earth1

BY P E T E R CH I A RA M ON T E A N D A N T H ON Y R . YU E

Shackleton’s ship the Fram, January 1, 1908

LE S S ON S I N LE A D E RS H I P



and entrepreneurs extraordinaire. We’d like to believe

that we benefit from reading their bromides for

success – and sometimes, maybe, we will. But anyone

who has seriously undertaken a study of leadership

has recognized that what works for one group in one

place at one time is difficult, if not impossible, to

duplicate in another group at another time and place.

The truth is that we learn more from our own successes

than we do from the success of others. It is generally

more difficult to respond to another person’s

conquests with the same sensitivity we extend to

their defeats. This is not to say that others’ success isn’t

energizing, just not as much as one’s own triumphs.

However, we do learn from both our own mistakes

and the mistakes of others.

When people talk to us of their failures, we often

relate to them better than we do when they tell us

about their successes. We learn from the mistakes of

others largely because it is easier to identify with

suffering than it is with success. Seeing others fail

encourages us to try and not suffer the same fate

when faced with similar circumstances ourselves.

Learning from the mistakes of others is generally less

painful, less temporarily debilitating than making the

same mistakes on our own. There’s value in examining

defeat and an opportunity in understanding how

others have overcome it. We are reminded that, after

being knocked down, that it’s the getting up again

that counts most.

Great leaders are emulated when they suit us and

overlooked when they don’t. Fifty to 100 years ago,

characterized by World War and national sacrifice,

Englishman Robert Falcon Scott seemed to fit the bill.

More recently, fellow countryman and Antarctic

explorer Ernest Shackleton’s achievements, putting

the highest premium on loyalty and survival, resonate

more powerfully than ever before. But, somewhatsurprisingly, the explorer who actually won the race to

the South Pole in 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen,

has yet to capture similar prominence in the literature

on team leadership and project management. What of

his team’s achievements, putting the highest premium

on speed, innovation, and adaptation. What of these

lessons?

Reading the biographies and history of great leaders

and explorers is a time-honored way of gainingknowledge and inspiration for our own models of

behaviour as team leaders. The lives, histories,

achievements, and defeats of Polar explorers Roald

Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton, and Robert Falcon Scott

are of particular interest to members of contemporary

team-based environments, especially where risk-taking

and pioneering are prerequisites for a successful

outcome.

The Virtues of ExaminingDefeatThis story, of the first journeys to the ends of the

Earth, offers powerful metaphors from which today’s

leaders can, by reflection, discover the full range of

challenges all must face who odyssey into uncharted

territories.

We are comforted to think we learn from the

exemplars of television celebrities, real estate moguls,

THE WORKPLACE REVIEW APRIL 2006

1 Based on the title of the book by Roland Huntford and the

screenplay by Trevor Griffith.

2 IMAX, NOVA, PBS, A&E, Discovery Channel, and so forth.

3 Scott Colbourne, “The Real Survivors,” Globe Television, 2003.

The Myth of the Explorer

JUDGING BY THE RECENT EXPLOSION OF BOOKS, F ILMS, AND DOCUMENTARIES ON THE SUBJECT , 2

THE STUDY OF POLAR EXPLORERS OF A CENTURY AGO IS ONCE AGAIN IN LEADERSHIP VOGUE.

AS ONE CRIT IC HAS SUGGESTED, THIS REVIVAL MAY BE “BECAUSE OF A PERCE IVED PAUCITY OF

CONTEMPORARY LEADERS” IN OUR OWN T IME. 3




Surely the most harrowing tale was of that of

Shackleton’s third expedition (which New England

Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick recounted to moti-

vate his football team to an unexpected Super Bowl

victory in 2003)3. On this third journey, in 1914,

Shackleton set out with the ambitious goal of crossing

the Antarctic continent on foot, from the Weddell

Sea across the Pole to McMurdo Sound, 2000 miles

through the worst weather and terrain imaginable.

Shackleton and a crew of 27 set sail for Antarctica on

board the Endurance. Ice crushed the ship and the

men had to abandon her, dragging three lifeboats on

a five-month journey across the ice floes in terrifying

cold to a remote Elephant Island. Here 22 of his crew

members remained marooned for two years.

With severely limited provisions, Shackleton and a

crew of five sailed a rickety canvas-covered lifeboat

800 miles through the roughest seas in the world to

the uninhabited coast of South Georgia Island. With

no rations left, Shackleton and two of his men

climbed the uncharted glaciers to a whaling station

on the other side of the mountain. After four

attempts and four months later, Shackleton returned

to Elephant Island to rescue the rest of his men. Not a

single life was lost despite the impossible conditions.

Rivals for the PoleFrom the 16th century, since Martin Frobisher sought

a waterway across the top of North America, discovery

of the North West Passage defied the efforts of a

succession of Arctic explorers. Englishman Sir JohnFranklin’s men actually located the Passage in 1845,

only to die before they could reach it. But it was a

33-year-old Roald Amundsen from Norway who,

through careful planning and the example of the

Canadian Inuit, finally claimed the long sought-after

prize in 1905. At the same time Amundsen was

engaged in his Arctic apprenticeship among the Inuit,

British naval Captain Robert Falcon Scott, together

with Dr. Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton, was

making history at the other end of the Earth(Antarctica) by reaching furthest south (450 miles

from the Pole) in 1902.

Ernest Shackleton was considered by many in his own

time as a grand failure, having attempted to reach

the South Pole three times and each time having had

to turn back defeated. After attaining the “Furthest

South” British expedition under the command of his

bitter rival, Robert Falcon Scott, Shackleton commanded

his own second campaign to Antarctica in 1908-09 and

came within 100 miles of the Pole before a shortage

of food and fuel forced his three man party to retreat.


Anartica Expedition, January, 1914




Fearing that his benefactors would withdraw their

support for another Arctic journey, now that the

North Pole had apparently fallen, Amundsen

secretly decided to solve the problem of the South

Pole, before venturing north again. Amundsen knew

instinctively that it could be done. Besides, he

reasoned, in order to get finance, you need a coup.

Although Amundsen remained publicly committed

to further exploration of the North Polar Basin, he

privately revealed to his brother Leon a secret plan to

take the South Pole along the way.

Scott, relieved by Shackleton’s misfortune, soon after

formally announced his plan to retrace Shackleton’s

march up the Beardmore Glacier, completing the last

97 miles to the South Pole. Unbeknownst to Scott,Amundsen had already decided to blaze a completely

new trail through the unexplored terrain 400 miles to

the east of the British Antarctic Base in McMurdo

Sound, in the Bay of Whales, off Roosevelt Island.

The Secret DisclosedThere were sound reasons for Amundsen’s secret

detour. He was still heavily in debt from his trip

through the North West Passage and knew if he were

to have any chance to repay his debtors, a spectacular

triumph would be needed. Amundsen believed that

the Norwegian government, had they an inkling of

his plans to go South instead of North, would have

immediately withdrawn their support, thereby

sacrificing his entire Northern campaign to the national

interest (the Norwegian government was bent on

cultivating British goodwill toward their recent inde-

pendence from Sweden). And so, on June 6th 1910, on

board Fram, Amundsen gave the order to pull anchor

and set sail. However, he had yet to tell his crew the

truth about their itinerary and destination. He waited

until the ship was “beyond recall” before making his

announcement.

Anchored in Funchal Roads, near the Island of

Madeira (off the coast of Casablanca), Amundsen

finally told his crew the journey’s true aim. “It is my

intention,” he told the men, “to sail southwards, land

Back in Norway, Amundsen began to secretly recruit a

team for his next expedition, to be first to the North

Pole; his dream since childhood. Amundsen’s original

plan was to repeat countryman Fridtjof Nansen’s

northern drift on Fram in 1893-96. Nansen used his

knowledge of the east-west currents from Siberia to

drift westwards towards the North Pole. The Fram

(meaning “Forwards”) unlike Shackleton’s Endurance,

was well equipped to resist the crushing vice of sea ice

in high latitudes. Its round-bottom oak and spruce

hull was designed to absorb the pressure of the drift

ice, and lift itself out of danger in a squeeze.

Scott was also in Norway preparing equipment for his

well-publicized return to Antarctica. Putting his

absolute faith in new technology, Scott was testing hismotor traction gasoline engines at the ski resort in

Lillehammer. It was here that Scott first learned that

his countryman and personal rival, Ernest Shackleton,

had landed at McMurdo Sound in Antarctica, and was

planning his own preemptive assault on the South

Pole.

Meanwhile, Rumors of GloryIn the meantime, while Amundsen was hard at work

on his preparations in Christiana (later renamed Oslo),

his brother and business manager, Leon, relayed the

news that American Frederick Cook had claimed to

reach the geographic North Pole in 1908. Another

American explorer, Robert Peary, disputed Cook’s

contention. Peary claimed to have been first to plant

the Stars and Stripes of the United States at the North

Pole in 1909 (actually, there remain strong doubts that

either explorer accomplished the feat). Regardless,

after hearing of Cook’s claim, Amundsen decided to

postpone his secret plans for the North Pole.

In Antarctica, in 1907, Ernest Shackleton came to with-

in 97 miles of the South Pole, lifting the veil that still

rested over the interior of Antarctica. “One end of the

Earth had been claimed,” said Amundsen, “But at the

other a little corner still remained.”[1] What did the

Norwegian explorer have in mind?





recruited for his professional expertise in a particular

aspect of vital importance to the expedition. For

example, among the Polar Party, Helmer Hanssen was

a master ice pilot and dog-driver; Olav Bjaaland was

a champion cross-country skier and master carpenter;

Oscar Wisting had practical training in dentistry and

surgery, was a superb sail and tent maker, and an

experienced explorer; and Sverre Hassel was an expert

at navigation, saddlery, and sledge-driving with

dogs and ski. The advantages were obvious. Their

combined experience allowed one man’s expertise to

take over where another’s fell off. However, far from

naive, Amundsen further noted, “There is no rose

without a thorn.” The drawback to having so many

experts on board is that each might give the impres-

sion that others’ opinions are of lesser value, which

can lead to conflicts.

Herein lays a revealing contrast in the way Amundsen

and Scott recruited their men. For the Norwegians

each area of expertise was coordinated so that a

number of men could perform the same tasks one

individual alone might avoid or ignore. For his

Antarctic expedition, Scott relied upon many of the

naval seamen who had accompanied him on hisprevious Discovery expedition to Antarctica plus a

sizable group of newly recruited officers and scientific

staff. All together, the British had seven officers, 11

biologists, geologists, physicists, and zoologists, and

14 men below decks. To this he added only one

experienced dog handler, Cecil Meares.

The Norwegians established a team environment in

which everyone had both vital primary roles as well as

a party on the Southern continent, and try to reach

the South Pole.”[2] At first there was a hush, broken

only by the sound of the creaking Fram pulling on her

anchor chain. Most of the men stood stunned. Oscar

Wisting, who was with Amundsen on the North West

Passage as well, later wrote of the occasion:

“[Amundsen] used ‘we’ and ‘ours’ ... it was not his

expedition but ours; we were all companions and all

had the same common goal.”[3] In the end, the entire

crew agreed to go. Writing in the third person,

Amundsen entered these notes in his journals: “With

men like these I don’t think Amundsen will deserve

any credit for reaching the Pole. He ought to be

thrashed if he doesn’t.”[4]

A LE S S ON I N CROS S -FU N CT I ON A L T E A MBU I LD I N G

The first “formal” lesson in leadership for the

twenty-first century: The more leadership capacity in

the ranks, the more effective the team.

On the saloon wall of the Fram, Amundsen had these

words posted: “We are all captains; we are all crew.”[5]

It’s not so much how many followers a leader has, he

said, as how many leaders one has created among the

team. It takes the concentrated energy and ideas ofmany people working in concert to change anything

of importance. Without distributed leadership at all

levels in the workplace, akin to a band without

rhythm, either things never get started properly in the

first place, or else initiatives fade quickly for lack of

momentum or direction.

Each member of the Norwegian team was the kind of

all-around Viking Amundsen admired. Each man was


On the saloon wall of the Fram, Amundsen had thesewords posted: “We are all captains; we are all crew.”[5]It’s not so much how many followers a leader has, he said,as how many leaders one has created among the team.




food, fuel, and equipment to be used later to secure a

safe return. The Norwegians had established three

such depots, taking three tons of supplies as far south

as 82 degrees (less than 500 miles from the Pole).

Furthermore, on their final assault, the Norwegians

continued to lay depots at precisely every degree of

latitude, so as to shed extra weight on the journey

home.

Regardless of his vast experience as an explorer and

lessons learned from past mistakes Amundsen wrote

in his diary Into the Antarctic Night , “We may just as

well confess it; we had forgotten to bring out a tool

which is a commonplace necessity on a Polar expedi-

tion; namely, a snow shovel.”[6] The Norwegians

brought ice saws and drills with them, but no snowshovels to excavate a snowdrift that had covered their

winter quarters at Framheim. Once some shovels were

forged out of some iron plate Olav Bjaaland found on

board the ship, the men began to clear the snow

away from the hut yet Amundsen stopped them.

Work with nature, he said, instead of against her and

so the Norwegians left the snowdrift running along

the axis of their quarters intact.

Instead of moving the snow away, the men dug

downwards into the hard blue ice of the Barrier itself

and were able to excavate an underground village of

workshops in which they stored their supplies and

worked on their equipment. It was 60 degrees below

zero outside the hut, a balmy plus three or four

degrees inside the workshops.

During this time, Amundsen asserted that unemploy-

ment was an unknown evil in their “little republic”

at Framheim. He saw to it that his crew always had

important work to do. There were no dead periods

and so the time passed quickly. During this prepara-

tion time, constant adjustments were made to cloth-

ing, tents, ski bindings, sleeping bags, and cooking

equipment.

Things were no so rosy in the British camp at Cape

Evans. The British hut was divided by a partition of

packing cases, one side for the officers and gentle-

secondary supportive roles to play. In this way,

Amundsen thought the alignment of experts would

permit the group to function as a team, instead of

having individual members occasionally working at

cross-purposes. Cross-functional teams reduce the time

it takes to get things done, often exceeding perform-

ance requirements at the same time. For example,

working in the underground workshops at Framheim

(the Norwegian winter quarters in Antarctica), the

carpenters were able to plane down the weight of the

sledges from 150 to 48 pounds without sacrificing

strength or durability.

The British, by comparison, were simply thrown

together at random, more reflective of matters of

inside connections than a serious attempt to recruitthe right men for the right jobs. Moreover, Scott

would wait for volunteers to come to him for exami-

nation and approval, whereas Amundsen actively

sought out those most talented and experienced for

creating a team-based workplace.

Although there was still hierarchy in the Norwegian

team, it operated informally so the men generally felt

free of it. More traditional team designs tend to

group people together by breaking the work down

into its functional specialties. Although Amundsen’s

recruits each had very specialized skills, they could

readily combine their broad interests and abilities

and apply them to many cross-disciplines. Such

involvement across boundaries enhances commitment

by taking people beyond their normal expectations

for responsibility. The British Navy (under Scott) on

the other hand, classified men according to their rank

making it easy for someone to say, “That’s not my

job,” leaving the task undone. This naval bureaucracy

tended to create a mindset of dependency, where

people did what they were ordered to do, but no

more.

Univeritas AntarcticaIn 1911 a journey to the South Pole meant arriving a

year earlier in order to establish supply depots of





Amundsen is quick to add the “counter-story” to his

leadership rhetoric. “The British are already here,” he

said, “and they have maybe one, or two, motor trac-

tors on terra firma. Just in case anyone was discount-

ing them from our reckoning.” Amundsen mentions

the obstacles and doesn’t hide the risks. “Besides,” he

adds, “there’s no use in taking the Pole if we can’t get

the word out.” [7]

A LESSON IN THE RARE ADVANTAGES OF

MAKING REALLY BIG MISTAKES

On Friday, September 8th, 1911, the Norwegians left

Framheim heading south in pursuit of the Pole. Then

the cold weather counter-attacked. By Monday, less

than 40 miles out on the Barrier, the thermometer

sank to minus 60 degrees (F). The winds were gusting

to 100 mph and the men had to build Inuit-style

igloos to wait out the storm. The next day the liquid

in the compasses froze solid. Amundsen put the

decision to his men and, using consensus to reach all

decisions on key matters, was persuaded to retreat.

At the point of exhaustion, and after 12 continuous

hours of merciless struggle against the cold and wind,

all the men arrived back safely to their Framheim

retreat. Five of the dogs had died and most of the

men were blistered and frostbitten. At breakfast the

next morning, most of the men agreed that the

whole idea of starting so early for the Pole had been

a mistake, but they withdrew at open rebellion.

Amundsen later wrote that this was perhaps the worst

crisis of his entire career as an explorer: having his

authority openly challenged at such a crucial moment.

Just the same, although the false start had set them

back by three weeks, the Norwegian team actually

profited by the delay.

The retreat had exposed certain weaknesses in their

equipment and these were subsequently corrected

during their second layover at Framheim. These

improvements later proved to be a significant

contributing factor in the overall success of the

expedition. For example, the ski boots, which early

on proved to be too stiff in the extreme cold, went

through four generations of mutations until they

men, the other side for the ratings and groom boys.

The British shore party consisted of geologists, meteo-

rologists, physicians, and a photographer but only one

expert skier, and the one expert dog driver. Instead of

learning to ski or drive dogs, the British comfortably

spent their time listening to lectures about rocks and

weather, playing soccer, and attending birthday par-

ties. A navigation course was also conspicuously

absent from the curriculum; they already had a navi-

gation specialist in Lt. Teddy Evans, Scott’s popular

first officer.

A LE S S ON I N CRE A T I N G A

V I S I ON OF P OS S I B I L I T Y

In a wonderful scene in Trevor Griffith’s screenplay of

The Last Place on Earth, Amundsen has Adolph

Lindstrom, his cook and closest confident, prepare a

special “treat” for their mid-Winter celebration in

June, 1911. Lindstrom comes up with a white-glazed

cake in the form of the Ross Ice Barrier, TransAntarctic

Glaciers, and the Plateau leading to the Pole.

Amundsen uses this occasion to create a vision of

what is possible for them to achieve; “Just as long as

we do this winter’s work properly and just-in-time so

that we can leave at the earliest possible date in ...

September.”

“That soon, d’you think?” comes the challenge from

the men.

“I do,” responds Amundsen, “The Fram can only

return for a week or two before the ice freezes her in.

There is no use taking the Pole if we can’t get out

with the news. So,” he says, taking up a tiny paper

Norwegian flag stuck on a toothpick and planting it

firmly into the cake precisely at the spot designated

the South Pole, “We must be here by Christmas,” he

adds. Amundsen has created a vision of what is

possible and defined this in terms of the commitment

it will take to achieve it. Without a vision, there is no

commitment. Without commitment, nothing happens.

Challenging a commitment to excellence is part and

parcel of the envisioning process. In this same speech





As they proceeded to lay their outward depots along

the Polar Plateau, the Norwegians marked each depot

with 10 black pennants on either side, at half-mile

intervals. In addition to the depots, snow beacons

were built every three miles along the route so that,

in calm weather, one cairn would be visible from

another. All told, the Norwegians built 150 six-foot

snow beacons constructed of 9,000 blocks of snow. In

each was a record of the position with directions to

the next marker; a guard against heavy weather con-

ditions. This was, reasoned Amundsen, no place to

take chances.

By contrast, the only marker the British left at the

crucial One Ton Depot (79 degrees, 40 minutes) was a

single red flag, and the route was itself not markedat all. And yet, on the outward depot journey,

February 17, 1911, while setting up One Ton Depot,

cavalry expert Captain Lawrence Oates urged Scott to

take the four strongest remaining Siberian ponies and

proceed the remaining 14 miles to 80 degrees, before

caching their supplies. Scott refused and turned home

for Cape Evans in McMurdo Sound 14 miles short of

their intended target. This would prove ominous.

The Race WonOn December 15th, 1911, Helmar Hanssen, who was

as usual leading with his non-magnetic sledge and

compass, called back for Amundsen to go up into the

lead with an estimated eight miles to go to the Pole.

Hanssen had no wish to be first to at the Pole. That

honor belonged to the leader of the expedition. “I

can hear the axle creaking,” remarked an excited Olav

Bjaaland, and at three o’clock p.m. the men cried,

“Halt!” and they all shook hands. Roald Amundsen

took out the Norwegian flag, and each man took part

in the act of planting the flag. It was not, he said, the

privilege of one man, it was the privilege of all those

who risked their lives.... “So we plant you, dear Flag,

on the South Pole, and give the plain on which it lies

the name King Haakon VII’s Plateau.”[8]

Privately, Amundsen later wrote “Nothing except a

battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle

were supple and spacious enough to prevent frost-

bite. In all, the Norwegian’s confidence in themselves,

their dogs, and their equipment only increased as a

result of this chilling early fiasco.

A LESSON IN MULTI -TASKING OUT ON THE

I CE BA RR I E R

By November 7th 1911, Amundsen’s party had reached

82 degrees, 21 minutes [450 miles from the Pole] and

was camped under thick masses of overcast cloud.

When they came out of their tents the next morning,

they could see, for the first time, the snow-clad

Trans-Antarctic Mountains, whose 15,000 foot summits

stood between them and their goal.

Amundsen had established a method whereby, in case

of lost or broken thermometers, each man would

compete to guess the correct temperature every

morning upon leaving the tent to relieve himself. This,

of course, serves several purposes. Fresh air served to

brighten everyone’s day. Plus, knowing who the “best

guesser” was when it came to the temperature might

be useful in measuring altitude, among other things,

should there be no other means left. Substantial

prizes of cigars and a telescope for the season’s cham-

pion were awarded. And as each man returned to the

tent, Amundsen had the pungent hot chocolate ready

to greet them with; the Ice Tent Café.

As the Norwegians continued their march toward the

mountains, two glaciers came into view, one closer

than the other, each blocking their advance. Putting

the decision to a vote, the men elected to find a way

up the near glacier (the one they named the Axel

Heiberg Glacier) which turned out to be a steep,

rugged mountainside laced with treacherous chasms

and two sets of dangerous ice blocks. Once the

Norwegians reached the ridge, they repentantly

acknowledged how, unlike the route they had chosen,

the far glacier, called Folgefonni, ran down safely and

evenly to Ice Barrier below. That would be the route

home. But for now, Amundsen’s mistake wasn’t

resented by his comrades since, as with every decision

of importance, the matter was jointly discussed, and

each man had been party to the decision.





should make the mistake of letting them reach the

telegraph first, the issue of priority might become

quite confused. And.... we still have business at the

other end of the earth, remember? We are a long

way from home, shall we go? [10]

On March 7, 1912, Amundsen and his crew reached

Tasmania and announced to the world that they had

reached the South Pole and returned safely from the

journey. In actual fact, the Norwegians were fitter and

stronger than they had been when they first stepped

on to the Southern continent.

A LE S S ON I N S P E E D , T E M P O, A N D

FLE X I B I L I T Y

The Norwegians had already proven to themselves

how disastrous both impulse and inaction can be. But

they were in a race after all, and surely they had to

move fast? Even though they could easily have skied

twice as far depending on varying wind and surface

conditions, through instituting a steady tempo of

15 miles a day, the Norwegians were able to travel

exactly one measurable degree of latitude (60 nautical

miles) on a map every four or five days. Amundsen

felt the altitude still called for restraint and, this way,

each man knew exactly what was expected of him

and could be confident in his ability to achieve it.

Specific. Measurable. Attainable.

With the wind at their backs and longing to get back

down to an altitude where each breath didn’t “feel

like fire,” the Norwegians quickened their pace once

they had descended the Plateau. With lighter loads

they often exceeded 30 miles a day on the Ice Barrier

won...Can anything more perverse be conceived?

I believe no human being has stood so diametrically

opposed to the goal of his wishes as I did on that

occasion. The North Pole had attracted me since the

days of my childhood, and so I find myself at exactly

the opposite end of the world.”[9] Unfinished business.

A LE S S ON I N T H E RH E T ORI C OF T U M BL I N G

H ORI Z ON S

The Norwegians had arrived at the South Pole healthy

and in good spirits. They had extra fuel and plenty of

food for men and dogs left over. They could not know

the comparatively dire circumstances faced by the

British in this regard. Scott and his men were over 300

miles and more than a month behind the Norwegians

When asked what they should do with the surplus

food and fuel, Amundsen decided to take it with

them, reasoning that they might still need it.

Amundsen also employs a bit more leadership rhetoric

at this point to remind his men that they haven’t won

until they’ve gotten back first with their good news.

The rhetoric of leadership requires that leaders

continually point the way ahead to the next horizon.

And as each new horizon appears, the goal itself con-

tinues to tumble away. The challenge of leadership,

therefore, remains in perpetual motion; confidence

matched with acceptance in a never-ending fluidity of

change. For example, in Trevor Griffith’s screenplay,

the dialogue at the Pole is as follows:

AMUNDSEN: For those who think we have already

won, let me say this. The British will be here, per-

haps soon. They don’t give up easily. And, if we


The rhetoric of leadership requires that leaders

continually point the way ahead to the next horizon.And as each new horizon appears, the goal itself continuesto tumble away. The challenge of leadership, therefore,remains in perpetual motion...




spaced them for animal transport, knowing full well

that they would be man-hauling sleds on the return

from the Pole.

Petty Officer Edgar Evans, who Scott chose for his size

and physical strength (overlooking his suspect mentalstability) went insane and died of scurvy on the

Beardmore Glacier. Down on the Ice Barrier, still more

than 300 miles from base, the British found a dreadful

shortage of fuel due to the phenomenon of “creeping”

(the rapid evaporation of kerosene in extreme cold).

Although Scott had observed “creeping” on the earlier

voyage of the Discovery , he neglected to find a proper

solution to the problem. The British team paid dearly

for his incompetence.

The Ultimate DefeatBy March 1912, Scott had completely collapsed as

leader and Dr. Edward Wilson has taken over command.

Titus Oates was now unable to pull with the others.

One of the effects of scurvy is to make old wounds

reopen, because Vitamin C is necessary to keep the

scar tissue together. This degeneration of the tissues

also causes great pain. The bullet that had smashed

Oates’ thighbone 10 years before in the Boar War

had left a massive scar, which began to dissolve under

the developing effects of this vitamin deficiency.

On March 17, 1912, his 32nd birthday, Captain

Lawrence “Titus” Oates dragged himself out into the

whirling blizzard, never to be seen again.

On March 21st, the three men remaining, Scott,

Wilson, and Bowers, came to within 11 miles of One

Ton Depot. With their supplies almost completely

gone and their camp buried in a fierce blizzard, they

lay in their tent for nine days until the last of their

food and fuel gave out on March 30, 1912. They had

carried 30 pounds of scientific rock samples with them

from their explorations. The same amount of seal

meat might have saved them.

At times it may appear too devastating a critique of

Scott and contemporary British naval practices of

the period to trace this tragic failure to pride and

and arrived at Framheim two weeks earlier than

expected, after a total journey of 1860 miles in just

99 days.

The British still had other problems to contend with.

Since astronomical navigation was vital in travelingover the featureless interior of the Polar Plateau, not

to mention finding the goal of the expedition itself,

Scott decided at the last moment to add a fifth man.

Lt. Henry Bowers, a navigator, was added to the final

Polar party. This was on account of the fact that Scott

had already dismissed his navigator and first officer,

Lt. Teddy Evans, largely because of Evans’ popularity

with the men. Having himself long forgotten the navi-

gation he’d studied behind a desk in the Naval

Academy at Dartmouth, Scott was forced to add Lt.Bowers to the team. The British Polar party therefore

consisted of five men, even though their provisions

had been packed in four man units. Not only were their

supplies disappearing, so was the morale of the men.

The Race LostThirty-four days after the Norwegians cantered up to

the Pole with their dogs, the British team discovered

the Norwegian flags and dog tracks. By this time

(January 17, 1912) Scott and his companions were

suffering from both physical and mental distress. Titus

Oates’ feet had turned gangrenous from frostbite and

the men were almost certainly in the throes of scurvy-

driven madness and fatigue.

The British had barely enough fuel to cook their food.

They were dehydrated from want of enough fuel to

melt snow for drinking water and they were starving

because of the extra fifth man. To do their distances,

they had to drag their sledges up to 12 hours a day at

an altitude of over 9,000 feet, a strain on even

healthy men and women. Starving and ill-clothed to

combat the elements, Scott’s men suffered the cold

immensely. For example, on the Ice Barrier, tempera-

tures were between -30 and -40 degrees (F). Not

only were their defenses against the cold severely

diminished, they were starving because their depots

were too small, too few, and too far apart. Scott has





the hearts and imaginations of all parties to that

relationship. This is what was most missing from

Scott’s leadership. He never understood, as Amundsen

did, that the more leadership there is in the ranks, the

more effective the team. Scott liked to march at the

head of the party, whereas Amundsen preferred to

remain at the back of pack. There he could observe

the working of men and dogs, picking up anything

vital that might have fallen off the sledges.

Roald Amundsen, who at 33 was the first to sail across

the North West Passage and first to reach the South

Pole at 39, closed down the era of dog teams and

sledges, and opened the way to terrestrial exploration

by flying machines. Amundsen returned several times

to the North Arctic Basin. At age 53, he reached 87degrees 44 minutes, the furthest North by aircraft. On

May 14, 1926, in the airship Norge, Amundsen,

together with American Lincoln Ellsworth and Italian

Umberto Nobile, passed over the North Pole, after

deliberately allowing American Commander Richard

Byrd to be the first man to fly to the North Pole.

Or so it was believed at the time.

According to newly uncovered records from the flight

discovered in the late 1980s, an oil leak in one of his

engines forced Byrd to turn back 150 miles short of his

target. Thus, the record once again goes to Roald

Amundsen, who floated over the North Pole three

days after Byrd’s failed attempt. Roald Amundsen –

first man to both Poles.

Can such leadership be taught? Surely some aspects,

but likely not all of it. Leadership is not contained

solely in the actions of the individual leader, but

rather in the dynamic system. Leadership is not, as

Scott assumed, equivalent to holding high office.

Leadership is meant to influence or direct opinion,

not dictate it. And leadership cannot be reduced to

majority rule either; that leaves out the will of too

many people whom must be involved in decisions

that affect them. People want to share responsibility

in their workplace, not simply act in accordance with

someone else’s imperatives.

mismanagement causes alone. Scott may have been

deficient in many of the qualities we might wish for

in an ideal leader, but we might also benefit from

recognizing the predilection toward such tendencies

we may have in ourselves. If nothing else, Scott

teaches us the need for greater acceptance of our

own misapprehension as leaders.

Norway’s Flag at the South Pole. The news was

splashed across the headlines of every newspaper in

the world. The world’s newest nation had bested one

of its most established nations. The British immediate-

ly denounced Amundsen as an “interloper”, this

despite hints of Scott’s mismanagement and failure at

leadership, which came back with the survivors.

American explorer Robert Peary went so far as to saythat Amundsen had “deliberately stolen the prize

from Scott.”

It riled Amundsen that British schoolchildren were

already being taught that it was Robert Falcon Scott

who discovered the South Pole. Ernest Shackleton was

almost alone in England to give Amundsen accordant

recognition for his feat. The more general opinion

among the English was that Amundsen’s victory over

Scott was entirely due to the element of surprise he

achieved by keeping his plans secret for so long. At

a dinner given by the Royal Geographical Society in

1912, Lord Curzon, the president, made a speech that

ended with, “I propose three cheers for the dogs!”.

Amundsen took offense at this slur on his honor and

resigned his fellowship; the Society declined to accept.

A LE S S ON I N LE A D I N G FROM BE H I N D

Amundsen was despised for his victory and Scott was

celebrated for his defeat. Few attempts were made to

analyze the reasons for Scott’s disaster, or Amundsen’s

success, for that matter. Scott the martyr eclipsed

Amundsen the victor.

There is a myth that it’s lonely at the top. This myth

implies that there is a single coherent function to be

performed by the “boss.” This myth must give way

to the fact that leaders never truly act alone in any

workplace but as part of a system that must exist in





BI BL I OG RA P H Y

Adair, John Great Leaders, [Surrey, England: Talbot Adair

Press, 1989].

Amundsen, Roald The South Pole. [NY: NYU Press, 1912,

2001].

Amundsen, Roald My Life as an Explorer , [NY: Doubleday,

Doran Inc., 1928].

Burkeen, Charles “The Race to the Pole” Leadership. Vol

10, No 4, Fall 1989: 104-09.

Diamond, Jared “The Price of Human Folly” Discover . April

1989: 73-77.

Huntford, Roland The Last Place on Earth, [NY: Atheneum,

1979, 1983].

Huntford, Roland Shackleton, [NY: Carroll & Graf, 1985].

Neider, Charles [Ed.] Antarctica, [NY: Cooper Square Press,

1972, 2000].

Perkins, Dennis Leading at the Edge, [NY: AMACOM, 2000].

Scott, Robert Falcon Tragedy and Triumph: Scott’s Last

Expedition, [Toronto: Prospero/Chapters Inc., 1927, 2001].

Shackleton, Ernest The Heart of the Antarctic. [London: W.

Heinemann, 1909].

RE FE RE N CE S

1. Huntford, Roland (1979, 1983) The Last Place on Earth,

NY: Atheneum, p. 455

2. Ibid, p. 284

3. Ibid.

4. Amundsen, Roald (1928) My life as an Explorer, NY:

Doubleday

5. Buckler, R. & Rellim, T.V. (Producers) & Fairfax, F(Director). (1985) The Last Place on Earth [Motion pic-

ture]. UK: Central Independent Television PLC and

Renegade Productions.

6. Amundsen, Roald, (1912, 2001) The South Pole, NY: NYU

Press, Ch. 5

7. Buckler, R. & Rellim, T.V. (Producers) & Fairfax, F

(Director). (1985) The Last Place on Earth [Motion pic-



8. Huntford, Roland (1979, 1983) The Last Place on Earth,

NY: Atheneum, p. 455

9. Ibid.

10.Buckler, R. & Rellim, T.V. (Producers) & Fairfax, F

(Director). (1985) The Last Place on Earth [Motion pic-



Given the exemplars of the great Polar Explorers of a

century ago, we should be reminded of how the full

range of our own potential as team leaders is not

something we should leave to chance. It is rather

something we must pursue thoroughly and systemati-

cally, the way Amundsen approached his victory at

the South Pole, equipped with both a historical

perspective and an avid appreciation for the risks

involved. History is rife with tales of the disasters of

denial for the sake of control. On the other hand,

Amundsen’s team-based working environments were

focused on the commitments each of the men had

made with one another, for the sake of the whole

enterprise.

The Last VikingAt the end of May 1928, Amundsen was called out

of retirement to rescue Italian pilot and inventor

Umberto Nobile and his crew, who had crashed on

to the Polar Basin in the airship Italia. Someone else

eventually rescued Nobile, but Amundsen, who had

set out to reach the Italians by aircraft, vanished into

the North Polar Sea. Thus ended the life of the

greatest explorer of the 20th century, and one of its

finest leaders.

In the North of Norway, on the Arctic coast, a legend

arose of two men who were paid and fed by their

neighbors to wait on a cliff, looking off in the direc-

tion in which Roald Amundsen had last been sighted,

watching and waiting for his return.

ProfilesPeter Chiaramonte, Ph.D., is a professor in the Faculty

of Management at Dalhousie University. ProfessorChiaramonte believes that The Last Place on Earth is

a treasure trove of classic leadership lessons in that,

each time you return to the story, you discover some-

thing that had, until then, remained darkly hidden.

Anthony R. Yue is a Ph.D. student at Saint Mary’s

University, where he combines his background as a

survival instructor and love of outdoor sports with his

studies of management and organization.





It is hard not to share Yvon

Chouinard’s pessimism about the

fate of the natural world. I read his

book, Let My People Go Surfing:

The Education of a Reluctant

Businessman, while riding the train

from Halifax to Belleville. The scenery

outside was punctuated by abandoned

vehicles and the rusting remnants

of various production processes. The

scenes played out inside the train

included such moments as the

outburst of disbelief expressed by

a nearby teen over the failing of his

dollar store batteries to power some

new electronic gadget. In Let My

People Go Surfing, Chouinard offers

his cure for the inevitable depression

that accompanies such pessimism.

The cure is action, and this book is

as much a blueprint for action as it

is an autobiographical account of

the history behind Patagonia (the

clothing designer, manufacturer and

retailer) that Chouinard founded and

continues to own.

Chouinard offers a series of philoso-

phies that have been used and

refined over time in the management

of Patagonia, and these serve as his

recipe for profitable, responsible and

sustainable business. To understand

these philosophies, one must under-

stand the values of the individuals

who shaped Patagonia from its

inception. In his youth, Chouinard

and friends lived close – very close –

to nature, and were usually found

suspended from any number of rock

faces in the American southwest or

camped out in their shadows. From

these experiences, Chouinard

found perfection in simplification

and developed a deep respect for

nature that acted as his antidote to

a pervasive consumer culture.

Furthermore, Chouinard began to

make mountain climbing equipment

that was stronger, lighter, more

versatile and simpler than anything

on the market. Chouinard Equipment

was born out of necessity, a means

to twofold ends of better quality

gear for personal use and a source

of income to allow for more exotic

climbing excursions. With a beach-

front shop and a staff of mostly

extreme sporting enthusiasts making

climbing equipment by hand,

Chouinard found himself at the helm

of the largest, albeit only marginally

profitable, hardware supplier in the

US by 1970. Clothing eventually was

added to their catalog, rationalized

as an extension of climbing gear

whereby cotton and thread joined

steel and rivets in the production line.

Chouinard then led the evolution of

Patagonia from a clothing label to a

separate business entity, and subse-

quently sold Chouinard Equipment to

its employees.

Ruminating on risk while reading

Let my people go surfing provided

me with a useful lens through which

the lessons of this book could be

better understood; risk being all the

more apropos, considering Chouinard’s

notion of adventure (meaning, by

definition, that you might not return

alive)! In Chouinard’s world, risk

management decisions are therefore

ever-present. The primary strategy

employed by Chouinard to control

risk is to purposefully limit the

growth of Patagonia, understanding

that exponential growth cannot exist

for long in a world of finite resources.

Every company, says Chouinard, has

its ideal size. By choosing to live

within their means, Patagonia has

a reduced likelihood of experiencing

the pains associated with too rapid

what’s

HOTwhat’sNOT

reviewing

BY BRA D LON G

RE V I E W OF YVON CH OU I N A RD ’ S : LET MY PEOPLE

GO SURFING: THE EDUCATION OF A RELUCTANT

B U S IN ESSMA N

The Penguin Press, 2005, 272 pages, HC

Avai lable at Chapte rs /Ind igo $25.49




growth, including crises in cash flow,

compromises in quality that stem

from outsourcing critical functions,

and over-capacity associated with

cyclical drops in demand. Instead,

Patagonia grows at a ‘natural rate’

(defined by their core customers to

be in the range of 5% annually),

shuns mass market advertising, and

produces only a narrow range of

products deemed most necessary.

These self imposed limitations

allow for faster, better and simpler

manufacturing and for resources to

be shifted to where they are needed

the most. From a risk management

perspective, responsible growth leads

to more stable product and produc-

tion planning and fewer resources

are required as inputs. The fact that

Patagonia is a privately owned

company, which Chouinard has no

particular intention to sell, further

complements this risk management

strategy. In Chouinard’s opinion,

being public would restrict what

Patagonia could do with its profits

and would place pressures on the

management team to embark upon

a ‘growth/suicide track’.

Controlled growth is related to the

second means by which risk at

Patagonia is reduced. Patagonia is,

as Chouinard frequently asserts, a

product driven company. Since mostof the original employees were

climbers and surfers, the original

products were made by the same

people that used them, often in life

or death situations. A commitment to

quality was, therefore, built into the

culture of Patagonia from its

inception. Surely if all company

executives were similarly reliant

upon the consumption of their own

products and services, the risks

associated with inferior quality and

its resultant effect on customer loyalty

would be drastically reduced. To be a

product driven company also requires

a commitment to innovation. While

at the helm of Chouinard Equipment,

Chouinard halted production of

pitons (their best selling climbing

tool) because they caused irreversible

damage to the rock walls into which

they were hammered, and replaced

them with a ‘cleaner’ device that

could be reused. Likewise, at

Patagonia, innovations in the fabrics

used to manufacture clothing include

polyesters made from recycled pop

bottles, cottons grown organically,

and dyes that are non-toxic. At

Patagonia, quality and innovation

have developed into a philosophy

that extends beyond product design

and manufacturing to include all

business practices, ranging from supe-

rior on-site child care to minimized

waste in production. In Let my people

go surfing, Chouinard demonstrates

that the mountain climbing analogy

is appropriate for businesses.

Mountain summits may be reached

in a number of ways; it is the process

of climbing that is more importantthan reaching the top. Likewise, in

business, it is through adherence to

guiding principles without making

compromises that one becomes

distinguished from one’s competitors.

Chouinard’s recurring theme is the

idea that Patagonia is an experiment

to determine whether being responsi-

ble to the environment is also good

for business. His excursions around

the world have convinced him that

the root of many social ills is the

deterioration of the natural world

by humans, the only species to

‘foul our own nest’. As a result, the

environment is viewed as being

Patagonia’s primary constituent, for

without a healthy environment, there

would be no customers, employees,

shareholders, and hence no business.

Central to the philosophies guiding

Patagonia, therefore, is the desire

to implement solutions to this

environmental crisis, and Patagonia

employees are challenged to lead

examined lives by constantly looking

inward for solutions to Patagonia’s

own role as a corporate polluter. One

important technique used to reduce

environmental risk is the adoption of

‘seven generation planning’, whereby

all decisions are made under the

assumption that Patagonia will be

in business for the next 100 years and

will have to live with the long term

consequences of the choices they

make. Furthermore, employees are

participants in discussions about the

meaning and applicability of the cor-

porate philosophies to various aspects

of the business. Chouinard has takenthe concept of the corporate retreat

to new heights, literally, and as a

result, Patagonia employees are

better communicators and share a

common direction. Risk is reduced

when employees are trained to

REVIEWING WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT



minor and major roles. A call to

action for all citizens to make similar

sacrifices for the sake of our own

survival concludes this book.

Chouinard offers an inspiring andpositive message for business persons

concerned about the perceived

contradiction between the health

of their own business enterprise

and the health of society and the

environment upon which it depends.

As Chouinard attests, the two are

inseparable. The contradiction, how-

ever, is perpetuated by the currentmanagement discourse centered on

finding solutions to the ‘problem’

of achieving a balance between the

professional and personal lives of

workers, as if the two should be

compartmentalized as such. In doing

so, it becomes possible to rationalize

the action taken in one domain as

being isolated from the other. The

Patagonia model, however, illustratesthat when work is more tightly

integrated with the personal lives of

those employed, it can produce more

enjoyable, meaningful and profitable

work while simultaneously leading to

more socially responsible behaviour.

consider the long term consequences

of their actions and are empowered

to make the decisions consistent with

company values. To the extent that

an environmentally responsible

approach to decision making has led

to profitability, this suggests that

Chouinard’s experiment has been

a success – stewardship and sustain-

ability are fundamental business

interests. Profits are not a goal and

their achievement is not stated in

the mission statement of Patagonia.

Instead, profits are considered to be

the welcome by-product of doing

everything else right, and therefore

management decisions have become

more conservative, more thoughtful

and less risky. More profoundly,

Patagonia’s profitability is achieved

after payment of a self-imposed

‘earth tax’, whereby 1% of total sales

revenues are donated to various

grassroots conservation efforts.

Let my people go surfing containsnumerous testimonials to the activism

that has resulted in significant

environmental achievements, from

river restoration to land protection,

in which Patagonia has played both

At 272 pages with numerous,

sometimes mesmerizing black and

white photographs, Let my people

go surfing is a blueprint for action

that demands of its reader a moment

of reflection about how to take

ownership for reversing the current

fate of the natural world.

Profile:Brad Long is currently in his first yearof the Sobey Ph.D. program and his

fourth year teaching at St. Francis

Xavier University, continuing his

transition from the private sector to

an academic career. His teaching and

research interests include business

ethics, spirituality and meaning in

work, and servant leadership.


“Profits are not a goal and their achievement is not stated

in the mission statement of Patagonia. Instead, profitsare considered to be the welcome by-product of doingeverything else right...”

REVIEWING WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT



It is well established that training benefits workers,

employers, and society. For employers, a well-trained

workforce increases the likelihood of having an

efficient and adaptive organization [1]. For society,

a well-trained labour force can provide a

competitive advantage in today’s global market [2], [3].

From a worker perspective, access to training

improves current and future career prospects [4], [5].

Conversely, an underinvestment in training has

potentially significant opportunity costs.

Females Still Face Barriers:A Commentary on theTraining Gap in Canada.BY GORDON BRIAN COOKE & IS IK URLA ZEYTINOGLU



non-standard jobs are less likely to be unionized [12].

This lack of union protection further exacerbates

the vulnerability of non-standard workers. The effect

of these trends is increasingly polarized working con-

ditions in Canada [13], with females over-represented

among those with relatively poor working conditions

[11, 14].

Using Statistics Canada’s 1999 and 2000 Workplace

and Employee Survey (WES) datasets, we analyzed

the potential impact of employment contract (i.e. job)

status, gender, unionization, and workplace tenure on

access to employer-sponsored training. To isolate the

relative impacts of these four factors, we utilized

multiple (logistic) regression analysis among several

worker sub-samples of interest. This is a well-acceptedapproach for a study of this type. First, though, we

generated rudimentary descriptive statistics.

Based on simple proportions, female workers have

essentially the same access (at 59% vs. 58%) to

employer-sponsored training as males. On the other

hand, non-union workers have lower access (at 57% vs.

64%) than unionized workers. Similarly, non-standard

workers have lower access to training (at 51% vs. 60%)

than standard workers. Surprisingly, low-tenure workers

have slightly higher access to training (at 60% vs. 58%)

than those with more seniority in the workplace.

At first blush, then, there is no sign of a training gap

on the basis of gender or tenure. Also, non-union and

non-standard workers seem to have lower access to

training, but not remarkably so.

It is risky and inappropriate, however, to rely on

(these) simple proportions because of the potentially

confounding influence of other relevant variables. To

address this problem, we controlled for the influence

of various employee and employer variables possibly

affecting training access. With this approach, a truer

picture of the effect of employment contract status,

gender, unionization, or tenure emerges. Among all

workers but controlling for other influences, access

to employer-sponsored training is significantly lower

for those with non-standard employment status, and

by a factor of 20% or more. Meanwhile, it appears

However, the workers who cannot access sufficient

training seem to bear the brunt of any negative

effects. Compounding the seriousness of this situation

is that certain sub-groups of workers appear to be

denied training relative to others. Given this situation,

we suggest that access to employer-sponsored

training has important social implications.

When studying this issue, we considered three types

of employer-sponsored training: on-the-job training,

classroom training on the employer’s premises, and

“outside” (i.e. offsite) training that is supported by

the employer. In most cases, employees accept any

available training opportunities. However, a small

number decline training that is offered by their

employer. To account for this possibility, we defineaccess to employer-sponsored training to mean that

a worker has been offered at least one of the three

types of training. The proportion actually receiving

training is slightly lower. Of course, there are other

sources of training as well. Governments often

provide various training programs, while individual

workers can upgrade their skills on their own as well.

Nonetheless, many employers do provide training,

and it is important to understand who accesses it.

It is also useful to consider certain labour market

trends. In recent years, a wide range of new work

arrangements have become prevalent in Canada.

More than one tenth of Canadian workers are in

temporary jobs, while about one in six work only a

part-time schedule [6]. One particularly worrisome

issue is that workers in these non-standard (i.e. tem-

porary and/or part-time) jobs tend to have poorer pay,

benefits, and job security relative to those in standard

(i.e. permanent, full-time) jobs [7, 8]. The lower job

security means that a segment of the labour force is

essentially “trapped” in one (inferior) non-standard

job after another [9, 10]. This is not an overstatement.

For instance, our earlier research indicated that non-

standard workers not accessing employer-sponsored

training are less likely to receive future promotion

from that employer as well. It is important to

note that a significant majority of workers in non-

standard jobs are female [11]. Moreover, workers in


F EM A L ES ST I L L F A C E B A R R I ER S



some employers still view – and consciously or subcon-

sciously treat – male and female workers differently.

Male workers, whether or not in non-standard

contracts, have relatively equal access to employer-

sponsored training. That is, males in non-standard

jobs seem to be treated the same as their “standard”

counterparts. Conversely, some employers apparently

perceive that females in non-standard contracts either

do not need, or should not get, training. Unfortunately,

this can be a self-fulfilling prophesy. If employers do

not provide training to these female workers, then

few will be able to advance their careers. However,

if few of them are advancing in their careers, then

employers might provide training resources to other,

more upwardly mobile, workers. The net result is that

females are further over-represented in “dead-end”

jobs. This is an example of the statistical discrimination

phenomenon [15, 16].

Many would argue that the provision of training is –

and should be – left to the discretion of management

based on the environment in which they operate and

the business strategies that they adopt. We whole-

heartedly agree. However, that same management

discretion could result in lower access to training for

low-tenure and/or non-standard workers overall . Insuch a scenario, the appropriate public policy response

might be to provide targeted training to those

disadvantaged groups. The results we found are quite

disappointing and suggest that a “gap” exists along

gender lines. Initially, we found that non-standard

workers have lower access to employer-sponsored

training. Upon closer inspection, though, this training

gap only occurs among non-union low-tenure workers,

that unionization has little effect, while being female

or having low tenure is associated with somewhat

higher training access. However, the results were

dramatically different when considering training

access among only non-union low-tenure workers.

These workers deserve extra attention because

they are particularly exposed to the discretion of

management. There is no union to protect these

workers and they have had little time to acquire

power and influence in the workplace. Among this

worker sub-group, it initially appeared that neither

gender nor employment contract status affected

training access.

Since these results were counterintuitive, we repeated

the analysis for non-union low-tenure workers whilealso separating females and males into different

groups. The rationale is that inequality in the work-

place is probably rather subtle nowadays. It seems

more likely that less obvious forms of discrimination

have replaced the direct (or overt) discrimination that

was common in the past. When focusing only on

this narrower subset of vulnerable workers, the results

are more much definitive. In the male grouping,

the effect of employment-contract status was not

significant. That is, being temporary or part-timedoes not create a training barrier among non-union

low-tenure males. In the female grouping, however,

those in temporary contracts, whether full-time or

part-time, are only one third as likely as permanent

full-time workers to have access to employer-spon-

sored training. Among non-union low-tenure females,

then, those in temporary jobs appear to face a

significant barrier to training. Our inference is that


That is, males in non-standard jobs seem to be treated thesame as their “standard” counterparts. Conversely, someemployers apparently perceive that females in non-standard

contracts either do not need, or should not get, training.




RE FE RE N CE S

1. Saks, A.M. and Haccoun, R.R. (2004). Managing

Performance Through Training and Development , Third

Edition. Scarborough, ONT: Nelson – Thomson Canada.

2. Maxwell, J. and Saunders, R. (2003). Changing Labour

Markets: Key Challenges Facing Canada. Paper prepared

for Human Resources Development Canada, CanadianPolicy Research Networks, www.cprn.org, downloaded

on 24 September 24 2003.

3. Torjman, S. (2000). Integrating the unemployed through

customized training. Canadian Public Policy ,

26(Supplement 1), S221-S233.

4. Becker, G. (1962). Investment in human capital: a

theoretical analysis. Journal of Political Economy , 70, 9-49.

5. Belcourt, M., Wright, P.C., and Saks, A.M. (2000).

Managing Performance Through Training &

Development, Second Edition. Scarborough, ONT: Nelson

Series in Human Resources Management.

6. Akyeampong, E.B. (2001). Fact-sheet on unionization.

Perspectives on Labour and Income, 13(3), 47-54.

Statistics Canada, 75-001-XPE.

7. Zeytinoglu, I.U. (1999). Introduction and overview.

In I.U. Zeytinoglu (Ed.), Changing Work Relationships in

Industrialized Economies (pp. ix-xx). Philadelphia, US:

John Benjamins Publ.

8. Lipsett, B. and Reesor, M. (1999). Women and men’s

entitlement to workplace benefits: the influence of

work arrangements. In R.P. Chaykowski, and L.M. Powell

(Eds.), Women and Work (pp.51-102). Montreal and

Kingston, ONT: School of Policy Studies, Queen’s

University.

9. Bolle, P. (1997). Part-time work: solution or trap?

International Labour Review , 136(4), 557-579.

10. Jackson, A. and Robinson, D. (2000). Falling Behind:

the State of Working Canada. Ottawa, ONT: Canadian

Centre for Policy Alternatives.

11. Cranford, C. J., Vosko, L. F. and Zukewich, N. (2003).

The gender of precarious employment in Canada.

Relations Industrielles, 58(3), 454-480.

12. Akyeampong, E.B. (2001). Fact-sheet on unionization.

Perspectives on Labour and Income, 13(3), 47-54.

Statistics Canada, 75-001-XPE.

13. Jackson, A. and Robinson, D. (2000). Falling Behind:

the State of Working Canada. Ottawa, ONT: Canadian

Centre for Policy Alternatives.14. Zeytinoglu, I.U. and Muteshi, J.K. (2000). Gender, race

and class dimensions of nonstandard work. Relations

Industrielles, 55(1), 133-165.

15. Nelson, A. (2006). Gender in Canada, Third Edition.

Toronto, ONT: Pearson Education Canada.

16. Padavic, I. and Reskin, B. (2002). Women and Men at

Work, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, US: Sage

Publications.

and primarily among females in temporary jobs.

Whether this training gap occurs intentionally or

unintentionally is unclear. However, it is clear that

management determines who has access to employer-

sponsored training in most cases, and certainly with

respect to non-union low-tenure workers.

We suggest that it is worthwhile for employers to

re-evaluate how they allocate their training resources.

Training provides a host of benefits for all. Perhaps

training resources could be more equitably distributed

within your workplace. Your intervention can poten-

tially eliminate barriers facing vulnerable workers and

generate organizational benefits at the same time.

In particular, we encourage employers to ensure that

females do not face extra training barriers. Providingmore equitable training access to your employees,

including those new to your organization and/or in

non-standard jobs, provides at least one definite

benefit. You will have a larger pool of qualified workers

available to move into more senior, standard jobs

within your workplace. Our analysis shows that too

many vulnerable females in non-standard jobs, who

lack tenure in the workplace and the protection of

a union, are facing a “training gap”. We hope that

this commentary provides food for thought, and theimpetus to review training access, for decision-makers

within Canadian workplaces.

ProfilesGordon Cooke, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of

Industrial Relations in the Faculty of Business

Administration at Memorial University of

Newfoundland in St. John’s.

Isik Zeytinoglu, Ph.D., is Professor of Management

and Industrial Relations in the DeGroote School of

Business at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.





There is no shortage of discussion in both the academic literature and trade publications around

the notion of the “value proposition”. The logic is unassailable: the value proposition is the

difference between what people pay (i.e., the value) for goods and services and what

those goods and services cost to provide. Necessarily this means that there must be a

customer who understands the particular value proposition, and is prepared to pay

for it. In addition to this, the customer must perceive the overall value proposition

to be higher than the competitor’s, and higher than if they could provide the

good / service internally. Generally speaking, the more rare the value proposition

and the more in demand it is, the greater the revenue and profit it will generate.

Much of the literature on the value proposition is directed at the organization as

a whole [1] [2] or in the context of enabling technologies and strategies [3] [4] [5].

Having said this, it has been a continuing surprise to me in my consulting practice

how few individuals in organizations have clearly thought through the questions of

their fundamental value proposition and its relationship to their core competencies. There

is a great deal written on the notion of “core competency” especially in the context of business

strategy and the prospects for outsourcing. I expected there would be significant literature in which the

concepts of organizational “core competence” and the related notion of “value proposition” are both

present. The Internet is a relatively rich source of over 3,560 web sites where these two phrases play a

role. This is less the case in the academic literature and trade publications where it is not very common in

the context of the relationship between the enterprise as a whole, its organizational sub-components, its

managers and its employees. An organization with a weak connection between its core competency and

its value proposition is likely to be missing important opportunities, or worse, risking serious competition.

One that does not connect these concepts to its human resources is in the same situation.

Although both concepts are fundamental to the strategy of the overall business, there is another

consideration of these ideas that warrants broader discussion: the downward cascade of these ideas in

an organization. It is clear that each and every unit in an organization should have both its own core

competency and its own related value proposition. This is true of finance and accounting [6], information

systems, human resources [7], manufacturing, or marketing [8]. It also seems likely that when the core

Cascading the Value

Proposition through theOrganization to theIndividual1


BY SU N N Y M A RCH E

1 The author gratefully acknowledges the editorial suggestions and encouragement of a valued colleague: – Dr. Jack Duffy

For the last ten years I have

been counseling my consulting

clients in mid- to senior management

to document their value proposition

and contribution to the organization

throughout the year. One of my

colleagues refers to this as his

trophy case.



competency of the organizational sub-unit is tightly coupled to the core competency of the organization

as a whole, the likelihood of outsourcing that specific organizational unit is lower than it might be if the

sub-unit core competency were more generic. To the best of my knowledge, there is no formal research

on this topic. For example, one can imagine a human resources department in a pharmaceutical company

with specialized skills in sourcing, recruiting, compensating, training, promoting and retaining people

from this particular professional community. Thus the value proposition cascade continues down the

organization chart within human resources, to each specialty area, e.g., compensation, benefits adminis-

tration, labor relations, the pension administration, etc. As it turns out, some human resources authors

note that the need for a value proposition works in the other direction too: from employer to employee

[9] [10], where employees consider how valuable the employer is to them in their career.

The same value proposition logic applies to the smallest unit of the organization – the individual. It is

as important that the individual be clear about her value proposition to the organization as it is for the

organization to be clear about its value to its customers. In other words, everyone one of us has both a

core competency and a value proposition in the context of the organization in which we work. Common

to both the organization unit/sub-unit and the individual is the issue of value visibility. It is not enoughto have both a well-developed, rare, in-demand core competency that produces a profitable value

proposition that is important to whoever is paying for it. The customers who benefit must understand

all of this too. Wise organizational units articulate their value propositions clearly and communicate them

to the customers, often as part of their brand, e.g., Ford’s “Quality is job one” or “Built Ford tough!”

and Walmart’s “Always low prices!” Wise individuals clearly articulate their value propositions to their

customers, beginning with their immediate supervisors.

To that end, for the last ten years I have been counseling my consulting clients in mid- to senior

management to document their value proposition and contribution to the organization throughout the

year. One of my colleagues refers to this as his trophy case. At least once every two weeks and preferably

more often, a manager should sit down and document in what specific ways she has made a contribution

since the last time she submitted to this discipline. There are at least seven good reasons for investing

this effort.

1.

2.

MEMORY ENHANCER Many of the contributions people in organizations make are informal and serendipitous.

For example, a colleague might drop by for advice on how to counsel a difficult employee, and manager

provides insight about both the colleague and the employee that resolves a major logjam. It might have

been a fifteen-minute conversation with significant benefit to the organization, but if it does not get

written down, it will not likely be remembered by any of the participants except in a generalized,

non-specific way. The Chinese proverb says it best: “the faintest ink lasts longer than the best memory.”

SELF-AWARENESS Each person in the organization really wants to have a clear idea of what contributions she is

making, if for no other reason than as part of being a reflective practitioner, to use Schön’s expression

[11]. If at the end of the week, she is unable to identify a single instance of her value to the

organization, she will want to be the first to find out. It is a vital signal for her to do something

different, perhaps beginning with some diagnostic work. There are many possible explanations for

this state of affairs: inappropriate skill set and/or education, not enough specific experience, lack of

motivation, inadequate organizational support, too much pressure, too little pressure, wrong job, wrong

organization, etc. On the other hand if at the end of the week she has a healthy list of accomplishments,

C A SC A D I N G TH E VA L U E PR OPOS I T I ON



3.


4.

5.

6.

this can improve self-confidence and morale. Note that for the most part, it is the outcome that counts not the activities.

She will want to make sure that she makes a connection between her contributions and accomplishments

to either intermediate deliverables required in the organization or major deliverables such as sales targets

met. It might also be worth thinking about these accomplishments in the context of balanced score-card

thinking too [6]. Some examples in this area might be “deliver sales”, “improve employee morale”, or

“contribute to a stable and effective workforce by employee counseling”.

DATA FOR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT As an employee collects data over time, she

will have some specific input for planning personal and professional development. Every job has direct

and indirect opportunities for making a difference. Typically the direct opportunities are specified in the

job description, or are implied by the job title. The indirect opportunities are often more subtle and more

significant, especially in more senior positions. By reflecting on the difference between how she actually

contributes compared to how she might have contributed, a person can develop a sense of where to

focus self-improvement efforts, whether formal or informal.

THE ANNUAL REVIEW Notwithstanding the ambiguous evidence about its efficacy, the annual performance review

is still a feature characteristic of organizational life [12] [13]. While struggling with the continuous full

court press of her job, a supervisor may ask the employee to develop the first draft of this important

document. It is not necessarily a bad idea, and in some appraisal systems, it is a requirement [14]. Self-

evaluation is often relatively unassuming and self-effacing. As difficult as it might be for the employee,

the self-assessment is not the place for modesty, and those specific examples of value contributions

documented over the year will help to make the important point – the individual has a value proposition

of ongoing utility. If the employee is preparing her own assessment, it is very useful to have a trophy file

of specific behavioral examples to draw on when it is time to present problem solving skills, commitment

to the organization, ability to work under pressure, and sense of team play. In other words, this is a way

for the individual to demonstrate that she is an asset to the organization, and smart organizations take

care of their assets. Part of the job of every employee is to help the organization understand her value

proposition.

THE ANNUAL REVIS ION TO THE RÉSUMÉS One of the other career disciplines more honoured in the breach

than in the observance is the revision of the résumés. Wise people have an up-to-date résumé for a

number of reasons. Sometimes a career opportunity emerges on short notice in the company, even before

a formal position is developed, advertised, and recruited. This is especially the case in project oriented

work environments. Or at head-hunter might call on a short timetable. Being ready in either event

speaks volumes about an individual’s degree of preparation and the capacity to anticipate. Note that

the ongoing trophy file should make it easier to develop more than one résumé.

PROMOTING YOUR CAREER AND EMPLOYMENT STABIL ITY The marketplace of smart people shares

one important characteristic with other marketplaces -– product differentiation is critical. For individuals

who are fortunate enough to work in an organization that is healthy and growing, their differentiation is

the foundation of their individual value proposition. The more clearly a person has articulated that proposi-

tion, the easier and more natural it will be for her to communicate it as she identifies opportunities [15].

Those who work for an organization that faces “rationalization”, “right-sizing”, or “de-selection” will

want their supervisors (and the extended organization too) to have a clear understanding of their worth,

when the management committee meets to decide the size and shape of the team that survives.




7.


YOUR LAWYER Finally, should the dark specter of organizational politics and managerial downsizing reach out its

bony finger to unfairly tap an individual on the shoulder, the detailed list of accomplishments in support

of her personal value proposition is going to look awfully good in the wrongful dismissal suit.

The employer-employee relationship has changed substantially over the years. It is unlikely that employees

at any level can expect ever to return to the traditional practice of beginning with a company, workingup through the ranks, and finally retiring from a lifetime of loyal service. It is equally unlikely that most

professional workers will fully join the “free agent nation.” Yet whatever the employment situation,

whether wage slave with the golden perks-and-pension handcuffs or independent consultant with the

freedom of nothing left to lose, the explicit or implicit pressure for each person to demonstrate a value

proposition will continue unabated. There are only two questions left: 1) whether to be disciplined in

choosing to use to collect the data to answer the question: “what have you done for us lately?” and, 2)

whether we make sure the people who work for us do likewise.

RE FE RE N CE S

1. Fine, C. H., R. Vardan, Robert Pethick, and Jamal El-Hout.

(2002). Rapid-response capability in value chain design.

MIT Sloan Management review , 43(2), 69-75.

2. Wilson, K., & Weilbaker, D. (2004). Global account

management: A literature based conceptual model.

Mid-American Journal of Business, 19(1), 13.

3. Meagher, R. (2003). Putting “strategic” into information

management. Information Management Journal, 37(1),

51.

4. Spence, M. (2004). Efficiency and personalization as

value creation in internationalizing high-technology

smes. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences,21(1), 65.

5. Thornberry, N. E. (2003). Corporate entrepreneurship:

Teaching managers to be entrepreneurs. The Journal of

Management Development , 22(4), 329-344.

6. Frigo, M. L., & Litman, J. (2001). True worth: What every

cfo should know about strategy and value creation.

Insight Magazine, 32-43.

7. La Trobe University. (2002). Executive development

program: Human resources development workshop

(Vol. 2002).

8. Yahklef, A. (1999). The internet as an opportunity

to rethink the role of the intermediary.Consumption

Markets and Culture, 4(1), 39-56.

9. Pekala, N. (2001). Holding onto top talent. Journal of

Property Management, 66(5), 22-28.

10. Wellins, R. S. (2001). Ten ways to hiring better and

faster. Employment Relations Today , 28(2), 79-86.

11. Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner who

are how professionals think in action. New York: Basic

Books.

12. Bowman, J. S. (1999). Performance appraisal:

Verisimilitude trumps veracity. Public Personnel

Management , 28(4), 557-576.

13. Cooke, R. (1998). Sharing a vision: Conduct fair

performance appraisals using right elements.Credit

Union Management , 21(4), 46-47.

14. Redman, T., Snape, E., Thompson, D., & Yan, F. K.-C.

(2000). Performance appraisal in an nhs hospital.

Human Resource Management Journal , 10(1), 48-62.

15. Moon, S. (2001). Equality for women-what does it

mean in the 21st century?. Commonwealth office of

the status of women. 2002.

Profile:Sunny Marche (Ph.D., CMC) is an associate professor of

information systems. He is responsible for teaching in

three programs at Dalhousie University – Masters of

Business Administration, Masters of Electronic

Commerce, and Masters of Health Informatics, as a

kind of utility infielder, teaching project management,

electronic commerce, personal and professional sde-

velopment, overview to business, among other things.




EACH YEAR, AS CONSIST ENTLY AS NEW YEAR’S RESOLUT IONS ARE MADE AND BROKEN,

MAJOR MEDIA OUTLETS POST OR L IST THEIR RENDIT IONS OF THE MOST IMPORTANT

N EW S STOR I ES , SPOR T STOR I ES , D I SA STER S , N EW I N VEN T I ON S , B U S I N ESS SU C C ESS

STORIES, SCANDALS AND OTHER RELATED TOPICS OF INTEREST. SOME ACADEMIC

JOURNALS HAVE FOLLOWED A S IMILAR PATTERN AND OFFER TO READERS THEIR OWN

LIST OF RELEVANT IDEAS. THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW (HBR) IS NO EXCEPT ION.

Once a year it announces its list of break through ideas for the year to come. In February of 2005 its

annual list suggested ideas such as a leadership role for continuity champions, the rise to prominence of

the Velcro organization, the online onset of blog trolling and a growing use of corporate funds to support

the training of employees to improve the use of a bewildering array of internet and communication

technology available to them. Another idea noted in HBR’s list was the concept of corporate risk

management (CRM).

Corporate risk management was once primarily the domain of insurers and actuaries. Recent events such

as 9/11, SARS, the Gulf war, Hurricane Katrina, Russia’s political use of gas pipeline shipments to address

concerns with its neighbours, the Enron and Worldcom corporate scandals, and dramatic changes in

weather have brought home to most corporate players the importance of forecasting and managing risk.

Online competitive intelligence can play a useful role in helping managers to address the concerns arising

from risks such as those noted above.

“Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the process of monitoring the competitive environment, an environment

that includes general business trends and competitor activities. Systematic and ethical, this process of

Using Online Competitive

Intelligence to Help IdentifyOrganizational Risk BY CON OR V I BE RT



➔

➔

➔

➔

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monitoring may also be conceived of as the flow of activities involved in a business decision from the

point where data is collected to the point where a decision is made and specific desired results achieved.

An important goal of any CI process is to develop actionable intelligence [1]. A desired scenario is one

where data is collected and compiled to develop information that is then analysed to create knowledge.

Knowledge, when communicated, becomes intelligence and when applied by decision makers leads to

action and results” [2].

The creation of corporate wide or enterprise risk management systems has been the response to these

concerns. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Systems are enterprise wide initiatives that enable

managers to grasp the significance of, and coordinate responses to financial, hazard, operational, and

strategic risk [3]. Tools and procedures are well known and well established to deal with risks related

to operations, hazards, and financial concerns. What are not well established in many firms are system

wide initiatives to coordinate these efforts such as those found in ERM systems. Further, new to the

formula are efforts to manage and identify strategic risks. Strategic risks originate with factors such as

a company’s sources of revenue and profit, the look and feel of industry, its competitive position, and

others concerns such as its brand strengths [3]. They are similar to what Miller [4] refers to as industry andfirm specific uncertainties. Industry specific uncertainties affect all firms in an industry and in the language

of investors, cannot be simply diversified away. Firm specific uncertainties focus on challenges that only

affect the firm. These can be diversified away by investors. Examples of industry specific uncertainties

include market supply shifts, changes in consumer tastes, demand changes by other buyers, new entrants,

and scarcity of complimentary goods. On the other hand, firm specific uncertainties refer to problems

with collectibles, self interested behaviour on the part of managers, labour unrest, product quality, and

emission levels [5].

Understanding the process underlying a CRM system provides a means to grasp the role that online

competitive intelligence might play in aiding managers. A typical CRM process [5] would incorporate

the following steps:

IDENT IFY AND ASSESS THE R ISKS

MAP THE R ISKS

QUANTIFY THE R ISKS

IDENTIFY POTENTIAL UPS IDE FOR EACH R ISK

DEVELOP RISK MITIGATION ACTION PLANS

ADJUST CAPITAL DECIS IONS ACCORDINGLY

U S I N G O N L I N E C O M P E T I T I V E I N T E L L I G E N C E



Online CI can help managers identify, assess and map the risks. Maps can be somewhat different for

each firm or situation. Examples of the categories that might be found in a strategic risk map are offered

by Slywotzky& Drzik [3]. These include industry, technology, brand, competitor, customer, project and

stagnation.

CI professionals and researchers have come to recognize the important role that an ever changingInternet may play in their efforts to understand the risks associated with commercial activity. So where

might an analyst find useful information about companies, and the risks associated with specific markets

and industries? The answer is that important information can be found online in many locations using

numerous tools. These tools include but are not limited to search engines, aggregators, online newspapers

and magazines, blogs, commercial Web sites, discussion boards, government and regulatory sites, and

career search sites. The objective of the remainder of this article is to offer but a few examples of how

to identify these risks using internet-based resources.

We’ll assume that our competitive environment of interest is North America. Although differences do

exist between organizations operating in Canada as opposed to the United States, many of the risks are

that same. Let’s also assume that much of the information pertinent to publicly traded companies is also

relevant to larger private companies. But where should one begin?

Let’s start where the pros would start – corporate financial documents filed with the Securities and

Exchange Commission (SEC) (see: www.sec.gov). It is the regulator concerned with corporate financial

reporting in the U.S. It maintains a database, termed EDGAR, which hosts electronic versions of the financial

statements of all companies whose shares trade on U.S. stock markets. Filing of these documents is

mandatory for these corporations. In a nutshell, EDGAR represents the “motherlode” of original source

financial data for analysts and investors interested in tracking the financial performance of large, primarily

American, publicly traded companies. It is of interest to Canadian corporations for a number of reasons.

First, much of the commercial landscape of Canada is controlled by U.S. based corporations that adhere

to these rules and regulations. Second, Canadian firms seeking to access capital for growth more often

than not seek to access capital in the U.S. In order to do so, they will voluntarily meet SEC disclosure

standards in regards to financial reporting. Third, increasingly the shares of many Canadian companies

are jointly listed on Canadian and U.S. stock exchanges.

There are many different files or forms that must be filed by these corporations with the SEC. The choice

of form to file is based on circumstance or time of the year. Three documents are considered to be the

“bread and butter” of professional market watchers. These are the 10-K, the S-1, and the DEF 14A. The

10-K is the company’s annual report and is filed once a year. The S-1 is the company’s registration

document. It is also the company’s pre IPO (Initial Public Offering) business plan. A company will only


CI professionals and researchers have come to recognizethe important role that an ever changing Internet may playin their efforts to understand the risks associated withcommercial activity.




file this document once in its lifetime. The DEF 14A is the document that lists the issues to be voted

on at the annual shareholder meeting. It is important because if offers the profiles, compensation details,

and shareholdings for each of the company’s key executives and directors. The S-1 is useful as it offers a

detailed overview of the market facing the company as well as rich insight into its overall strategy, its

competitors, its supply chain and the risks it faces. The annual report normally offers great insight

regarding the risks facing the corporation, important lawsuits that it is dealing with, and the locations of

its facilities and specifics of its geographic markets. Indeed, risk factors facing the filing company are

often clearly spelled out in its 10-K and S-1 form. This is useful for a couple of reasons. First, access to the

10-K filings of a number of companies operating in the same industries offers an analyst the opportunity

to assess which risk factors might be specific to each firm and which might be common to the industry.

Access to a recent S-1 form of a firm in an industry offers insight as to the challenges facing new entrants

to an industry, as well as an extremely well detailed business plan that often paints a clear picture of

new, established or alternative suppliers, customers and distributors. The S-1, the 10-K and the Def 14A

documents provide another little bit of extremely useful information. They offer brief biographical

sketches of members of the senior management team. Do the executives have the smarts to successfully

guide the corporation as intended? More often than not, the best way to assess this capability is the

existence of a track record of success.

Both investors and the general public are offered free access to corporate financial documente through

the web site of the SEC. The information found in these documents forms the basis of corporation

information offered to the public on sites such as Biz.Yahoo (see: http://biz.yahoo.com) and Reuters

(see: www.reuters.com). The Reuters web site is useful for another reason. It offers overviews of indus-

tries. Each overview clearly spells out three or four key trends and three or four key issues affecting all

competitors. Among the content provided is a sorting of industry specific news stories by categories suchas alliances, mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, and corporate re-organizations. What is

happening with the competition? Is consolidation occurring in a specific value chain segment? This online

information source, helps answer that question.

Picture this scenario. In order to understand your market and in anticipation of a new product launch,

you have asked a consulting firm to provide population data on specific geographic regions. Your

concern is trying to assess the size of the market for your consumer products. You are unclear as to

where such information might exist and the process that the consulting firm might use to access this

data. Fortunately, a recent BBA graduate gained instruction in her courses as to how to access such data.

Both investors and the general public are offered freeaccess to corporate financial documents through the website of the SEC. The information found in these documentsforms the basis of corporation information offered to the

public on sites such as Biz.Yahoo (see: http://biz.yahoo.com)and Reuters (see: www.reuters.com).





You are surprised to learn how easy the information is to access using the Statistics Canada and U.S.

Census Bureau web sites. What has also been brought to your attention is that summary demographic

statistics regarding towns, cities, and states can also be easily access through Yahoo.com (see:

http://realestate.yahoo.com).

Perhaps another concern of yours is the identity of potential suppliers and distributors of your products,as well as their credibility. Do they have solid track records in business? Finance.yahoo.com offers one

means of identifying potential suppliers, customers and distributors. Its Industry Centre tab offers links

to hundreds of industries and profiles on the public and private corporations active in these areas.

ThomasNet (see: www.thomasnet.com) allows users to search by product type. Are you interested who

makes, distributes, and services a particular product, say office furniture for example? Are you interested

in where these corporations are located and their links to firms in other segments of the value chain?

This is the site to check.

Once you have identified these companies, how might you assess the credibility of each as a partner?

One means is to check their track record with the relevant regulators. If the company is in the business

of selling consumer products, then its record in regards to product recalls is available by searching the

database hosted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (see: www.cpsc.gov). If it makes or sells

products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (see: www.fda.gov) its track record can be

accessed using the search function found on that web site. Has the company come under suspicion for its

financial reporting or is the history of key executives somewhat murky? If there are concerns, and the

problems occurred with a publicly traded corporation, then a search of SEC web site (see: www.sec.gov)

should highlight any issues. What is the potential partner organization’s track record in regards

to the environment? The ECCHO database hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(see: www.epa.gov) offers analysts and researchers the opportunity to assess the impact of corporate,

private and public facilities on air and water quality, as well as being informed of hazardous waste

disposal activities. Users can search by facility name or by location. This same database also offers access

at the click of a mouse to EPA case reports on specific facilities.

How about changes in consumer preferences? One means is to track news stories about specific products

or companies. News aggregators are an excellent means of accomplishing this. They offer only recent

news stories from thousands of media sources. Key word searches using the aggregators of Google

(see: http://news.google.com) or Yahoo (see: http://news.yahoo.com) can often pull up the latest insight

regarding a consumer trend. Another angle for pursuing information of this nature is use a consumer

feedback site such as Planet Feedback (see: www.planetfeedback.com). This site offers a searchable


Understanding how online information can be used, thepractice of online competitive intelligence is in itself askill worthy of attention.




collection of consumer letters of complaint and compliment regarding companies, which it makes

available online to the public.

Finally, who might become competitors? Two ways that an observer might peer into the future is to

look at the companies that are being funded by venture capital companies and examine patent activity

in areas of interest. In regards to the former process, identifying venture capital (VC) firms that fundactivities in certain industries can be tricky. Online sources of venture capital, sorted by industry, can

be identified by accessing a report commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers. It is available through

www.pwcmoneytree.com/moneytree/nav.jsp?page=vcind. Many of these VC firm web sites in turn identify

the companies that they fund. It is through access to these sites that potential new competitors may be

identified. In terms of patents, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site (see: www.uspto.gov)

allows users to search issued patents and applications by product classification, inventor, location,

assignee (patent owner), and other categories. An interesting feature of each patent summary is the

listings of patents referenced by the inventor and patents that in turn reference the patent under

examination. These identify the firms whose ideas were built on and those who are building on the

ideas found in the patent.

In conclusion, identifying and understanding strategic risks are an important challenge facing corpora-

tions, both public and private. Clearly, not all risks can be identified ahead of time. The growth of

meaningful content accessible through the Internet suggests, however, that fewer risks may go

unnoticed and those that are noticed will be more clearly understood. Online information sources such

as news aggregators, and the web sites of government regulators and commercial organizations including

Reuters, can aid managers in this regard. Understanding how online information can be used, the

practice of online competitive intelligence is in itself a skill worthy of attention.

RE FE RE N CE S

1 Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.

www.scip.org, Accessed, February 1, 2005.

2 Vibert, C. 2000. Web Based Analysis for Competitive

Intelligence. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

3 Slywotzky, A.J. & Drzik, J. 2005. Countering the biggest

risk of all. The Harvard Business Review , 83(4):78-88,

133.

4 Miller, K. 1992. A framework for integrated risk

management in international business. Journal of

International Business Studies, 23(2), 311-331.

5 Barrese, J. & Scordis, N. 2003. Corporate risk

management. Review of Business, Fall 24(3), 26-29.

ProfileConor Vibert, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of

Business Strategy at the Fred C. Manning School of

Business of Acadia University. He obtained a Ph.D.

in Organizational Analysis from the University of

Alberta in 1996. He is the author of Web Based

Analysis for Competitive Intelligence, Theorizing

on Macro-organizational Behavior: A Handbook

of Ideas and Explanations, Competitive Intelligence:

A Framework for Web-based Analysis & Decision-

Making. Conor has published in Competitive

Intelligence Review, Education and Information

Technologies, the Journal of Competitive Strategy

and the Canadian Journal of Administrative Studies.




T H E W O R K P L A C E R E V I E W A P R I L 2 0 0 6 V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 1

MissionThe mission of The Workplace Review is to become a regional

forum where people can explore different perspectives of work.

The Workplace Review will emphasize research that is current

and relevant, with a high potential for immediate application

and impact.

Better WorkplacesBetter Workplaces is a research initiative of the Sobey School

of Business. It is a key focus in our ongoing effort to produce

research that has a meaningful impact on the way we do

business. The Better Workplaces research agenda is aimed atdeveloping insights into the balance of factors that encourage

positive organizational outcomes, including improved organiza-

tional performance and customer care, employee health and

safety, good community-workplace relations, and ethical

business practices.

One of the initiatives under the Better Workplaces umbrella is

the introduction of this new electronic journal – The Workplace

Review.

Scope of the eJournalThe Workplace Review showcases the strength of international

faculty who are in touch with day-to-day workplace challenges.

Drawing upon our diverse community of researchers, from the

Sobey School of Business and other Atlantic Canadian universities,

the journal will reflect developing issues in the functional

specialties of marketing, finance, operations, information systems,

economics, accounting, and management. It will address issues

such as personnel staffing and selection, human resource

management, leadership and coaching, occupational health,

industrial relations, spirituality, diversity management, corporate

governance and business ethics. The journal will remain flexible

enough to incorporate future or emerging issues. All articles will

focus on the central theme of the challenges and opportunities

surrounding work, working and the workplace, but will not

necessarily reflect the views of Saint Mary’s University and the

Sobey School of Business.

sobey.smu.ca/workplacereview



ED I TO R I A L STA F F

Senior Academic EditorALBERT MILLS

Academic EditorsANDY HARVEY

DAVID WICKS

Business EditorDAVID HOLT

Managing EditorANTHONY YUE

Production EditorM ARG ARE T M c KE E

E D I T O R I A L B O A R D M E M B E R S

Akbari Ather (SMU)

Bruce Anderson (SMU)

David Bateman (SMU)

Sylvie Berthelot (UdeM)

Karen Blotnicky (MSVU)Barry Boothman (UNB)

Travor Brown (MUN)

Peter Chiaramonte (DAL)

Tom Cheng (SMU)

Ron Collins (UPEI)

Atul Dar (SMU)

Mallika Das (MSVU)

Kelly Dye (Acadia)

Nauman Farooqi (MTA)

Sherry Finney (CBU)

Iraj Fooladi (DAL)

Dale Foster (MUN)

Gord Fullerton (SMU)

Andrew S. Harvey (SMU)

Camilla Holmvall (SMU)

Tim Hynes (StFx)

Dawn Jutla (SMU)

Elizabeth Kelley (DAL)

Ed Leach (DAL)

Margaret McKee (SMU)

Carolan McLarney (DAL)

Jean Helms Mills (SMU)

Jane Mullen (MTA)

Conor Vibert (Acadia)

Ramesh Venkat (SMU)Judy Ann Roy (UNB)

Peter Secord (SMU)

Basu Sharma (UNB)

Harvey Silverstein (SMU)*

James Tolliver (UNB)

Jeff Young (MSVU)

Documents

Leadership - The Last Place on Earth